


A Special Clone

by An_eager_reader



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Aayla likes slave/rape play, Ahsoka is slightly underage but Rex cant help it, Ahsoka/Rex Daddy kink, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Fives has an oedipus complex, Midichlorians - Freeform, Multi, OC is the Light for 2 dark girl's, OC is the clone's wingman, Odd Pairing, Original Character-centric, Sniper - Freeform, Threesome - F/F/M, she also likes to cuddle after
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:54:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 58,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22201423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/An_eager_reader/pseuds/An_eager_reader
Summary: Secret testing and underwhelming results produce a Clone Trooper with a destiny.follow along as he sets out to fight the war he was bred for and serve a greater purpose than any could have thought possible.From simple soldier to galactic hero. This Clone is in for a hell of a ride.
Relationships: Asajj Ventress/Barriss Offee/OC, Barriss Offee/OC, CC-5052 | Bly/Aayla Secura, CT-27-5555 | Fives | ARC-5555/Shaak Ti, CT-7567 | Rex/Ahsoka Tano, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, asajj ventress/OC
Comments: 66
Kudos: 84





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at writing fanfiction properly. (I've never posted actual chapters before and only have a place holder for another story up.) 
> 
> please let me know what you all think of this so far and whether or not you want to see this continue.
> 
> please comment below.

**(excerpts from the scientific journal of kaminoan chief medical scientist Nala Se)**

* * *

_"Mass productions of Jango Fett Clones continues on schedule and shows consistent and pleasing results. genetic donor proves to be an exemplary cloning template."_

* * *

_"prime minister Lama Su reports further orders of Clone batches to meet the Galactic Republic's growing need for soldiers in this time of war. with luck the increased demand will not lead to rushed production. Speed should not be more important than quality."_

* * *

_"with war has come the opportunity to better observe and study the famous jedi warrior's and their supposed mystic abilities. Blood test's performed on jedi master Shaak Ti, the Republic appointed overseer for Clone production, under the belief that she needed to be checked in order to ensure that her presence would not contaminate the fresh batches, has yielded interesting results._

_Test's have discovered the presence of a microscopic bacteria present in the Jedi's blood cells. we have of course heard before of the fabled midichlorians that the Jedi test for in their younglings. but to see them for myself is truly fascinating and warrants further study."_

* * *

_"Through the use of blood cultures and hired help to harvest from source, we have secured enough of the Jedi's bacteria to begin experimentation. My interest currently lies in studying the effects of midichlorians being introduced during the cloning process, in the hope of recreating the Jedi's abilities."_

* * *

_"Midichlorian cloning test has begun. Our stock has only allowed for a single test subject, it should be sufficiant._   
_A single fresh cloning pod is being filled with midichlorian infused bacta, in which a new Fett clone will be grown, monitored and eventually harvested to observe its effects on an otherwise untampered Clone fetus. Thanks to the Republics patronage, we already have a sizable and reliable control group."_

* * *

_"Clone embryo number '9734' has developed as expected, show no significant anomalies. blood tests do prove the presence of midichlorians growing within the Clone's cells as hoped, but otherwise, no change."_

* * *

_"Clone '9734' was placed amoungst the other cloning pod's in order to hide our testing from the jedi's sense's. It seemed sufficiant and '9734' is due for harvesting."_

* * *

_"Clone '9734' was successfully extracted and moved to the nursery with some of his pod brothers as a control group. He continues to show no significant results besides the midichlorians present in his cell's, but perhaps that will change in time."_

* * *

_"Clone cadet '9734' has reached eligibility to begin flash training alongside his brethren at a standard rate. He continues to show no sign's of force sensitivity or abnormalities besides a small but not uncommon personallity quirk. '9734' displays an above average level of concern and care for his fellow clone's. We will continue to monitor his development."_

* * *

_"Clone Trainee '9734' is progressing nicely through flash training and simulations, displaying slightly improved results during blaster training but still shows no statistically significant results for our midichlorian testing. '9734' continues to display his personality quirk and has taken to offering his aid to anyone and everyone he believe need's assistance (medical staff, his brethren and the jedi overseer.) his developing nature has been noted by his Clone brothers earning him the nickname 'help' (according to the extra curricular studying of another Clone, in an archaic numerical system, the number '9734' when inverted spells the word 'help' in the same archaic language. fascinating.)"_

* * *

_"Clone CT-9734 AKA 'help' has achieved battle ready status and is schedualed for a rush deployment to the planet Christophsis by Republic request. Attempting to clone the abilities of the jedi has proven unsuccessful and further study has been cancelled. CT-9734 proves to be nothing more than one more amoung the millions of identical faces of his brothers. Disappointing."_

**to be continued???**


	2. Every little "Help's"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The siege of Christophsis is well underway and the Republic's force's are stretched thin.

**Christophsis**   
**Kenobi POV:**

"they're pulling back!"

  
 _'Thank the Force for that'_ He thought to himself in response to his former padawan's exclamation. 

  
They had been fighting to secure Christophsis from the separatist's for a while now. And whilst they were making some progress, it was slow going, and every inch of ground seemed to cost the life of another Clone Trooper. 

  
_'It may be what they are bred for, but that doesn't make it right'_ Obi-wan thought solemnly.

  
The Republic was still desperately trying to secure vital hyperspace lane's, to transport Troop's and supplies. Unfortunately meaning that the Republic force on Christophsis was being severely depleted by wave after wave of battle droid's, with little hope of reinforcements anytime soon.

Communication with the rest of the Republic had been difficult at the best of times during this war so far, and damn near impossible at the worst. So far they had only managed to make a short call to Master Yoda at the Jedi temple warning them of the possibility of a protracted siege.

  
 _'And to arrange Anakin's surprise Padawan'_ Obi-wan remembered with a subtle smirk.

He knew of Anakin's refusal to take on a Padawan but Master Yoda and himself felt that he was ready for the responsibility and privilege of mentoring.

  
Admiral Yularen had been forced to retreat from the battle above Christophsis, despite having fought admirably against the overwhelming numbers of the separatist fleet. 

  
_'we can only hope that he return's with aid'_ He thought.

  
He moved his attention from his somewhat pessimistic musings, back to his momentarily relieved ex-Padawan.

  
"yes, but for how long?" Obi-wan asked, not expecting an answer.

  
As Obi-wan and Anakin stopped to look around the plasma scorched road's, they saw the broken bodies of fallen clones and the weary, tired staggering of those who'd survived. Obi-wan couldn't help but again, beg the Force for aid, for relief. so that the bodies of the fallen could be cleared and prepared for cremation, and so that the men could rest.

  
As if hearing his plea, a Nu-class Republic transport sailed over head.

  
"Look's like help has arrived" he said, with no small amount of relief.

* * *

He and Anakin began walking over to the now landing shuttle, along with a few Clone's who seemed eager to get at whatever supplies the ship's arrival promised.

  
"Our cruiser must be back" Obi-wan stated.

  
"Which mean's we will be able to get our reinforcement's" Anakin deduced with a small, victorious smirk.

  
"Well then, it look's like our problem's are solved" I smoothly snarked, as I so deeply enjoy doing. "Fresh Troop's, new supplies... and perhaps they've even brought my new Padawan with them." 

  
experience has trained him well enough to be able to keep the mischievous smirk off his face.

  
"Do you really think it's a good idea to bring a Padawan learner into all this?" Anakin questioned.

  
 _'Honestly no, but desperate time's call for desperate measure's. And the Youngling's aren't going to stay young just because there is a war going on, they need to be properly guided and mentored.'_ I thought sadly.

  
"I spoke to Master Yoda about it. You should put in a request for one." I said, trying to soften Anakin up to the idea. "You'd make a good teacher".

  
Complementing Anakin has to come with just enough sincerity that he doesn't think you are lying to him, but also just enough teasing that it doesn't make him uncomfortable or embarrass him.

  
"Ha ha ha, no thanks'" Anakin deflected.

  
 _'Lecture time.'_ thought Obi-wan.

  
"Anakin. Teaching is a privilege." I began "And it's part of a Jedi's responsibility to help train the next generation."

  
Anakin didn't look convinced.

  
"A Padawan would just slow me down." He stated, as if it was obviously all that mattered. which I suppose to him it does. If it doesn't go as fast as possible, it is not for Anakin Skywalker.

  
By now we had arrived at the Shuttle and were waiting for the boarding ramp to lower. When it did I was somewhat surprised to see a young Torgruta female step out.

She was decidedly not wearing traditional Jedi robe's, and was instead dressed in more... freeing attire that seemed to be drawing some, not so subtle attention amongst the Clone Trooper's despite her clearly being only 14 standard years at most.

She, fortunately, already has a lightsaber hilt at her hip and seemed athletic enough to be at least somewhat helpful on a battlefield.

  
"A Youngling." I usefully stated the obvious.

  
"And who are you supposed to be?" Anakin questioned rather rudely, as the young Jedi potential walked down the ramp.

  
"I'm Ahsoka?" She half asked, as if not sure why we didn't already know. "Master Yoda sent me." She said. 

  
"I was told to tell both of you that you must get back to the Jedi temple immediately, there's an emergency." Ahsoka dutifully informed.

  
I could almost see Anakin deciding to be petulant and lord his Knight's status over the young Jedi. _'force grant me patience.'_

  
"Well I don't know if you've noticed, but we're in a bit of an emergency right here." Despite Anakin's total lack of tact or understanding for the Youngling, I had to agree with him on this point.

  
"Yes our communications have been a bit unreliable, but we've been calling for help." I informed her.

  
"Master Yoda hadn't heard from you since you sent your request for a Padawan, so he sent me to deliver the message." She said apologetically.

  
"Oh great so they knew to send us an inexperience youngling, but they don't even know how much trouble we're in here." Anakin moaned insensitively.

  
"Maybe you can relay a signal through the cruiser that just dropped me off" Ahsoka suggested, as if to one-up him for the Youngling comment.

  
 _'I think she's going to fit right in with us._ ' I thought a touch smugly.

* * *

We gathered around the Holo table setup by our heavy cannon's, And contacted the bridge crew of the nearby Republic cruiser fighting overhead.

  
A blue translucent image appeared of a Clone deck officer, who sharply saluted and waited for us to speak after confirming the connection.

  
"We need to get in contact with the Jedi temple, but our long range communication system is damaged." Obi-wan explained to the Clone. "We need to use your cruiser to relay our signal through to them."

  
 **"Understood. We're under attack by separatist warship's, but I will try to make contact for you. Standby."** The Clone officer reported.

  
We waited rather anxiously for the holo table to show any sign of a connection to the Jedi temple, and just when we we're starting to worry, a familiar little creature appeared.

  
 **"Master Kenobi, glad Ahsoka found you, I am."** The grandmaster of the Jedi order said jovially.

  
"Master Yoda, we are trapped here and vastly out numbered." I reported grimly. "We are in no position to go anywhere or do anything. our support ship's have all been destroyed." 

  
Master Yoda appeared to take a moment to think before speaking. 

  
**"Send reinforcement's to you, we will, chhhkkk-"** The holo table lost connection, and the image of Master Yoda broke up and faded.

  
"Master Yoda... Master Yoda!" I tried vainly.

  
The Clone officer from before reappeared.

  
 **"we've lost the transmission sir** " He informed. **"we have to leave orbit immediately. more enemy ship's have just arrived, we'll get back to you as soon as we can."**

  
With that, the holo table went quiet, and we were left stunned for half a second. Of course Anakin had something to say.

  
"Well, I guess we'll have to hold out a little longer." He said frustrated.

  
 _'Oh joy'_ I thought. _'Oh well, complaining won't help us here.'_

  
"My apologies' young one. It's time for a proper introduction." Obi-wan began.

  
"I'm the new Padawan learner" She started. "I'm Ahsoka Tano."

  
 _'Time to deliver Anakin's surprise, with a small misunderstanding.'_ Obi-wan thought good-naturedly.

  
"I'm Obi-wan Kenobi, your new Master." I said, hoping that she will correct me.

  
"I'm... at your service Master Kenobi. But I'm afraid that I've actually been assigned to Master Skywalker." Ahsoka replied.

  
 _'Yes! Oh perfect delivery._ ' I thought, happily.

  
"What! No no no no, there must be some mistake." Anakin sqwarked in denial.

"He's the one who wanted a Padawan." He finished, pointing at me in indignation.

  
I put on my best 'How very odd' face, and looked between the two, enjoying the scene.

  
"No, Master Yoda was very specific." Ahsoka replied. "I am assigned to Anakin Skywalker, and he is to supervise my Jedi training." She parroted.

  
"..."

  
"But that doesn't make any sen-" Anakin began before I cut him off.

  
"We'll have to sort this out later. It won't be long before those droid's figure out a way around our cannon's" Obi-wan said, reminding them all about the on going siege.

  
Anakin didn't look best pleased, but he returned his focus to the war quickly.

  
"I'll check on Rex at the lookout post." He said, trying to walk away.

  
"Best take her with you." I said, seeing his attempt to leave his Padawan in my care.

  
As Anakin and Ahsoka walked of, I could almost see myself and Anakin, side by side, going of on yet another adventure.

  
 _'Yes, this will be good for them both. should be good fun for me too.'_ I thought.

**Rex POV:**

The clankers had pulled back suddenly.

 _'And far too easily'_ Rex thought.

He didn't achieve the rank of Captain just because he was lucky, He achieved it because he's damn good at his job. And if experience has taught him anything, it's that droid's don't retreat unless their commander has finally decided to stop wasting the pile's of scrap, and come up with a new plan.

  
 _'And a new plan mean's possible surprises.'_ Rex mused. _'A soldier caught by surprise, tends to be a dead soldier.'_

  
His mind was working hard to decipher and plan for new angle's of attack, secret weapon's and any other nasty trick's the Seppie's might have in store for them.

  
As he was thinking, Rex saw his one brother's up in one of the distant lookout post's, signal 'all clear'.

He turned away from his lookout for now and saw his General approaching, with a young Torgruta girl behind him.

  
 _'What the hell is a little girl doing here'_ he wondered, trying to figure out what she was doing in an active war zone.

  
 _'She's pretty though'_ the thought seemed to sneak up on him and take him by surprise, momentarily disgusting himself by thinking about a clearly underage girl that way.

  
 _'And a Jedi at that.'_ he thought.

  
He pulled himself away from his disturbing musing's, to focus back on his Battalion's Jedi General, Anakin Skywalker.

  
"What's the status Rex?" Skywalker inquired.

  
"Quiet for now Sir. They're gearing up for another assault." He reported crisply.

"Who's the Youngling?" Rex asked.

  
The young Torgruta looked a little ticked off at being called a Youngling.

  
"I'm Master Skywalker's Padawan" She stressed. "The name's Ahsoka Tano"

  
Rex spaced out for a second looking at her face this close up. 

  
_'She really is quite pretty'_ He couldn't help but decide.

  
Luckily Rex caught himself before he started seriously staring like his brother behind Ahsoka was.

  
"Sir, I thought you said you'd never take a Padawan?" Rex half stated, half questioned.

  
"There's been a mix up, the Youngling isn't with me" Skywalker assured.

  
"Stop calling me that!" Ahsoka said, clearly getting frustrated.

  
 _'She's even pretty when she's mad'_ Rex thought again before he could stop himself.

  
"You're stuck with me Skyguy" She snipped with a wicked grin on her face.

  
Rex couldn't help but chuckle at the General's expense, it was such a stupid nickname, it was perfect. However he could see that the General wasn't very appreciative and so he tried to reel in his amusement.

  
"What did you just call me?" Skywalker snapped, short tempered. "Don't get snippy with me little one, you know I don't even think you're old enough to be a Padawan?"

  
"Well maybe I'm not... But Master Yoda think's I am." Ahsoka replied, with a cocky smirk that shamefully made Rex's cock swell just a little.

  
"Well we're not with Master Yoda now, so if you're ready, you better start proving it." Skywalker chastised her.

  
Rex could see her confidence fall, along with her face. And although he felt bad for her, he had to agree with the General. A war is not the place for the weak of heart.

  
"Captain Rex will show you how a little respect can go a long way." Skywalker half ordered.

  
 _'Oh no. Being ordered to spend time with a teenaged Torgruta that giving me a hard-on... Kriff.'_ Rex thought dejectedly.

  
"Uhhh... Right!" He said intelligently. "Come on Youngling."

  
 _'Already fucked it up.'_ He thought.

  
"Padawan" She snarked.

  
_'... Shab.'_

* * *

Rex walked with Ahsoka back over to the heavy cannon's, in order to inspect their condition.

Everything seemed to be as good as can be expected; Running low on power cell's, men are tired and hungry having not had sufficient time to eat and sleep, And several of his brother's seem to be paying more attention the tiny Torgruta than looking out for droid's.

  
On the plus side however, the walk had given his half-hard a chance to go down. And Rex was now able to speak with the new commander, using the correct head.

  
"Have you thought about moving that line back captain?" She asked, in relation to the heavy cannon's. "They'd have better cover that way."

  
 _'She's got a decent head on her shoulder's._ ' He thought.

  
"Thanks' for the suggestion, but General Skywalker think's they're fine where they are." Rex replied kindly.

  
She accepted that response easily and moved on to a new topic.

  
"So if you're a Captain and I'm a Jedi... Then technically I out rank you right?" She asked with that kriffing smirk on her face again.

  
"In my book, experience out rank's everything." Rex replied seriously.

  
"Well if experience outranks everything, I guess I better start getting some." Ahsoka said with youthful eagerness.

  
 _'Down boy... Down.'_ Rex mentally ordered trying to control whatever this young Jedi was doing to him.

Rex and Ahsoka started walking back over to the staging area, to be by the General's side's for when the next wave of droid's inevitably came.

However, a small Republic blockade runner flew overhead, drawing the hopeful gaze's of many.

  
Rex rushed over to the General's and the 3 Jedi, himself and Cody (who's here with General Kenobi.) moved over to the designated landing zone to see what the ship's arrival brought.

* * *

**The boarding ramp lowered to reveal-**

* * *

"Shinie's?" Rex muttered in disbelief.

  
 _'We're fighting a war on a planet under siege, and the Republic has sent half a hundred Shinie's'_ Rex thought, still in disbelief but also slightly ticked off.

  
As Rex was mulling over their bad luck, one of the Shinie's on board marched down the ramp towards him.

There was nothing really distinct about this particular Clone, nor any of the other's behind him, but this one walked with the stride of a man eager to get to work.

  
"Sir!" The nameless Shinie saluted.

  
Captain Rex stood to attention to address the new arrival's.

  
"At ease Trooper." Rex commanded. "Care to fill us in?"

  
"Yes Sir! Republic command received a request for aid courtesy of Admiral Yularen. At the time of the request there were no available combat unit's to send your way, but myself and the boy's on-board are close enough to combat ready status that we've been deployed to help you hold out until further support becomes available." The Shinie reported.

  
 _'Inexperienced Shinie's sent to buy the Republic more time to help us properly.'_ Rex understood.

  
"I understand that it's not what you were hoping for Sir, but for now, we're the best your gonna get." The Shinie said calmly.

  
 _'I guess that's true. Better than nothing. I should get this Brother's name since he seems to be the one in charge of these boy's.'_ Rex resolved.

  
"True. We'll make it work." Rex said. "What's your name Trooper?"

  
"CT-9734 Sir!" The trooper announced.

  
"I asked for your name Trooper... Not your digit's" Rex corrected sternly.

He liked to firmly instill a sense of individuality in his men, and it all began with becoming a name and not a number.

  
CT-9734 relaxed slightly as if happy to be free to use his chosen name.

  
"My Pod brother's called me 'Help' Sir and it's kinda stuck." The now named Help chuckled.

  
Rex wondered for a moment about the name. Some of his brother's had been given name's ironically, some had taken the name of a particular talent that they possessed and some had name's that they just liked the sound of. He wondered which was the case for this brother.

  
"How'd you earn that name vod?" Rex asked politely.

  
"Apparently I ask how to do it a lot Sir." Help said with humour in his tone.

  
Rex and some of the nearby brother's had a bit of a laugh at that, but when the General's and Commander's (Ahsoka and Cody.) made their presence known, they focused up again.

  
"While it is always a pleasure to meet a new face, there is still a war going on." General Kenobi reminded. "could we perhaps get a report of the supplies you've brought."

  
Help snapped to attention again now that he was being addressed by the General's.

  
"Yes Sir! It's not much but we've got 50 unassigned brother's, fresh and well rested. A small stock of assorted power cell's that we managed to grab before we left Kamino. And half a dozen EMP mine's that the brother's and I rigged up on the short ride over." Help reported.

  
 _'He's right, it's not much, but it is useful.'_ Rex thought with a small spark of hope.

  
"OH!" Help exclaimed. "And I brought a couple crate's of ration bar's. When I heard that you boy's we're dealing with a siege, I figured that you wouldn't be eating well so I put in a larger than necessary ration's request with the long-neck's"

  
 _'You beautiful bastard.'_ Rex thought with a smile.

Behind him, he could hear some of his brother's cheering.

  
The General's also had small smile's on their face's, though whether that's for the munition's or the ration's, Rex didn't know.

  
"The supplies' and men are much appreciated Trooper." Skywalker thanked genuinely.

"Follow Captain Rex and Commander Cody's instruction's and maybe we can get through this mess in one piece." He continued in a carefree manner.

  
"Yes Sir!" Help responded.

He stepped back to await instruction from himself and Cody.

  
"Rex. Get these supplies distributed and let the boy's eat in shift's." Skywalker ordered. "Someone need's to stay on watch."

  
"Cody. Take the new arrival's and get them positioned." General Kenobi ordered.

"I'm guessing that they've never fought beside a large force in a true battle before." He correctly assumed.

  
""Yes Sir!"" Rex and Cody nodded before moving off to do just that.

* * *

Rex worked alongside Help to evenly distribute the ration's and blaster power cell's to their weary brother's, while Cody took the other Shinie's off, assigning them to fill in the space's made in some of the more depleted squad's.

  
Help was proving to be true to his name as he offered his assistance wherever they went.

Asking how he could help the heavy cannon crew's, the medic's, the boy's on watch and even the Jedi when they saw them again.

  
 _'Eager without being irritating. Helpful without getting under everyone's feet... Useful.'_ Rex decided.

  
Right now Rex, Help and Ahsoka were returning to the lookout post, checking on the brother's as they went.

  
Moment's after they arrived at the lookout, thanks' to Ahsoka's predatory genetics', she spotted something beginning to take form in the distance.

  
"Hey what's that?" She asked, alerting us.

  
We watched for a moment as a translucent red bubble grew and spread out in an ever growing circle.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what it was by now.

  
"Not good, look's like an energy shield." Rex said.

"That's gonna make thing's damn near impossible. If you still want experience little one, you're about to get plenty." He said grimly.

  
Help turned, ready to sprint. 

  
"I'll go let the General's know Sir." He said.

  
Rex nodded and Help sprinted away, leaving him and the young commander together once more.

Rex took a moment to reflect before the battle begun once again and he couldn't help but worry about something else.

  
 _'Why the hell did I call her 'little one' and why did it feel so right.'_ He wondered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not an awful lot of change so far from Canon, but should be more once Help has established himself.
> 
> Right now it's almost line for line taken from the Clone war's movie but the longer this goes on, the more it will change. For the most part Canon event's will still happen but Help will be part of them and his presence will effect thing's. All the same battle's will be fought, but the event's within them and the outcome of them may be different thanks' to him.
> 
> Please leave comment's to let me know what you think of this so far and also where you think I can improve/ where I need to make change's (Format, etc.)
> 
> Thanks' for reading.


	3. Siege of Christophsis.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The droid assault commences and Help find's his calling.

**Help POV:**

He ran to find the Jedi General's as quickly as he could whilst warning any brother's he came across of the new droid advance.

_'Get the brother's focused up now so they're prepared for when order's come.'_ He thought.

On his way to the holo table where the Jedi were, he noticed that the EMP mines hadn't been deployed yet and were just stacked at the supply depot.

He felt a subtle pull towards them which would have been easy to ignore or play off if he wasn't already familiar with these strange gut feeling's of his and so used to following it.

He gathered 2 of them slinging one across his back by a carry strap and lugging the other under one arm. He also carried his DC-15s blaster carbine with his right hand.

_'I'm not a really a fan of the carbine, but deployment was rushed and beggar's can't be chooser's I guess'_ He thought reluctantly.

Arriving at the holo table, the General's turned to him awaiting whatever he had to report.

"The droid army has deployed a large energy shield." He reported, garnering worried and tired look's from the Jedi and any Clone's who were within earshot.

"It's steadily growing in size and covering just ahead of the enemies advance."

The Jedi exchanged looks before bringing up a topographical holo map on the table.

"Our primary asset's are our heavy cannon's, that shield is going to render them useless." General Kenobi stated.

"Without them we will quickly find ourselves outmatched."

"Our force's wont be able to engage until we are inside the shield and the droid's are already on top of us." General Skywalker added.

"I suspect that was their intention Sir." Help said.

"The heavy cannon's present the greatest threat to their advance, so they've found a way to neutralise them, meaning that the droid's commander has also realised that almost all of our strength lies with them gun's."

The two Jedi looked surprised that the Shinie felt bold enough to speak up at a briefing without being asked to. Neither of them complained however and infact they seemed grateful for the input.

_'With everything else going on, it's easy to slip up and miss key detail's.'_ He remembered from his training. _'Sometimes it's helpful for someone to state the obvious.'_

"Quite. Those heavy cannon's are a substantial asset." General Kenobi continued.

"As it stand's, we are being forced to play the defending team until help arrives. We need to be able to utilise them."

By this point Captain Rex and Commander Tano arrived, and Rex was the first to speak up.

"Was it you who got the lad's up and ready?" The Captain asked him.

"Yes Sir, I figured if they were prepared for order's before they came they would be more efficient." Help answered.

"Good man. The Boy's are ready for order's General's." Rex stated confidently.

"That's what I like to hear Rex." General Skywalker said.

"We were just discussing the need to have our heavy cannon support available and how we could work around this shield of theirs"

Everyone stopped to think for a moment before Commander Tano spoke up.

"If that shield's such a big problem, why don't we just disable it?" She said as if it was obvious.

"Easier said than done." Rex said grimly.

This made Help stop for a moment, remembering something he'd seen occassionally back on Kamino during his growth and training.

"For us it would be anyway." Help commented.

"I've seen the kind of thing's that General Shaak Ti could do while on Kamino. A Jedi might be able to find a way to the shield generator and disable it." He suggested.

Commander Tano and General Skywalker puffed up a little with pride whilst General Kenobi paused to consider it.

"I suppose it could be done, and we really do need that shield down otherwise those tank's are just going to push right through us and destroy our cannon's." General Kenobi said.

"I agreed, the Youngling and I will work our way to the shield generator while you buy us time to disable it." Skywalker said to Kenobi and Rex whilst Commander Tano sulked at being called 'Youngling'.

We all turned to the holo table again to see if there was anything that we might be able to use to our advantage.

As they were looking, Help noticed a main street leading through the city that could act as a bottle neck of sort's and voiced his idea.

"If the enemy commander has any sense in his head at all, they will likely have their tank's leading their advance." Help began, getting nod's all around.

"They're big, heavy thing's reliant on repulser lift's to move. So my thinking is, we have the lad's perform a tactical retreat further toward's the city center drawing them down this street." He said gesturing to the narrow main street.

"Once we fall back to this cluster of building, we deploy these EMP mines." He passed one of the mines to Captain Rex who picked up where he was leading.

"Draw the tank's into a bottle neck and disable them with the mines, creating a barricade out of their own army." Rex finished with a proud smile.

The Jedi seemed to take a moment to consider the plan and eventually gave little smile's of their own.

"I like it, it won't last for long, but it may just buy us the time that we need." General Kenobi said with a touch of hope in his tone.

"If we can keep the droid army focused on our retreat, it may provide General Skywalker and Commander Tano with the cover they need to slip behind their line's and move on to the shield generator." Help added.

There were nod's all around again and Commander Tano seemed grateful for being called Commander, instead of Youngling.

General Skywalker started to walk off toward's the small supply depot (Pressumably to gather explosive's for the shield generator.) and called out.

"See to it Rex. Perform a tactical retreat and deploy the mines. Hold them for as long as you can and once that shield is down, fire on them with the heavy cannon's." He ordered.

"Yes Sir!" Captain Rex answered before walking away with the EMP mine that Help had handed to him.

Commander Tano ran off after General Skywalker, leaving himself and General Kenobi at the holo table. The General looked up from the table after a moment and noticed the mine that Help was still carrying.

"May I be so bold as to ask why you are carrying that mine around like it's your first born child?" Kenobi asked with a slightly bemused grin.

Help shrugged a little and followed Kenobi as he moved off to give order's to Commander Cody.

"Don't really know Sir." He answered.

"I just got a gut feeling that it'll come in handy for me, and I've learned to trust my gut."

Which was true. Ever since he could remember, he's been a little... odd. He sometime's got feeling's about thing's, about choice's and option's. This gut feeling of his never told him what to do but it did help him to make decision's.

He had only ignored his gut once before, during a training exercise where one of his pod brother's had gotten hurt because the tactic they used was dangerously flawed. It wasn't a serious, scarring event, but he did decide to trust his gut from then on.

_'In the simulation's it's an injury. On the battlefield it could be death.'_ He knew.

When they found Commander Cody they filled him in on the plan and then settled in to wait for the droid army to engage them before they fell back.

* * *

  
The droid army was almost upon them. He could hear the stomping of metal feet and the grinding of gear's as the translucent red of the energy shield loomed ever closer.

The plan here was fairly simple in theory. Wait for the shield to pass over head before engaging the clanker's from above utilising several low balconies and walkway's.

Once the droid's respond and the Captain give's the order, retreat from the front rank's backward's until you arrive at the checkpoint. Upon arrival, deploy the EMP mine's and dig in to defend the street once they tank's were out of commission.

_'That's the plan, but so few plan's ever survive contact with the enemy.'_ Help thought. _'Always be ready to improvise'_.

General Skywalker and Commander Tano had already moved off to sneak past the droid line's (By hiding under a box.) and General Kenobi and Captain Rex were stationed on the walkway across the street from him.

Commander Cody had been placed in charge of the rear guard tasked with defending the cannon's and covering the retreating force.

The wait was finally over and the red dome passed overhead. Once they were clear of the shield, the Clone's stood as one and opened fire on the advancing droid column.

Blue streak's of plasma flew and impacted against the cheap metal torso's of the battle droid's felling many in the initial wave. However the droid army's power does not come from individual skill, but rather the sheer strength of superior and overwhelming number's.

Whilst his brother's fired aimlessly into the faceless mass of droid's, Help scanned over it, looking down the sight's of his blaster carbine. He searched the droid column for target's of value; Commander's, Super battle droid's, Dwarf spider droid's, anything that could pose an ellevated threat to their retreat.

Finally, as his barrel passed over one particular mass of droid's, he felt his trigger finger twitch slightly, alerting him to a potential target.

_'Trust your gut Help. Trust your gut.'_ He thought to himself.

Looking deeper into the mass where his finger had twitched, he spotted a regular B1 battle droid ready to fire at General Kenobi who had jumped down into the fray along with some brother's using zip line's.

_'Good ol' gut strike's again'_ He though joyfully.

Help took aim at the battle droid and gently squeezed the trigger.

The blue plasma sailed through the air and the droid's body smoked leaving General Kenobi none the wiser about the fact that a BD damn near blew a hole through his chest.

_'Ah I'll tell him about it later.'_ Help thought good naturedly.

He was still scanning for and dispatching target's when Captain Rex signaled the retreat, but Help's instinct's chose that moment to flared up again, presenting him with a choice.

Retreat alongside the other Clone trooper's and hold the defensive line, or go up and provide overwatch for the Captain on the ground.

He barely needed a second to think about it. His gut would never provide an alternative unless there was something worthwhile to it, and while he may be safer following the original plan, he could do more good by going up than falling back.

So as the Captain and the rest of his surviving brother's fell back through one of the near by building's, Help replaced his blaster carbine with a DC-15a long rifle from the body of a near by Clone.

_'Forgive me Vod, but it's more use to me now than you.'_ He said in prayer.

He didn't like looting the corpses of his brethren, but blaster's and charge cell's are no good to dead men. So he gathered several powercell's for his newly acquired rifle, swipped a set of tactical bino's off of the ground and ascended a nearby tower block until he reached a level a dozen stories up.

Once the floor was secured and the stairwell loosely barricaded, he attached the EMP mine he was carrying to the roof above the stair's and set if for motion detection.

Now that he was as secure as one man can be in a war zone (Not very.) he moved up another floor and over to one of the window's that was facing the street that the Clone's were retreating down.

The street they had chosen was one long straight, that for tactical purposes had been divided into 10 sector's. From one end of the street to the other was 10 block's (considered sector's now.) the heavy cannon's were positioned at sector 1, the city center and they were guarded by Commander Cody and his men.

The droid column would be marching down the street from sector 10 towards sector 1. Captain Rex and the other men of the 501st were presently retreating back towards sector 6, a safe mid way point to create the barricade and leave enough room to fall back further if need be without endangering the heavy cannon's.

Help scanned the retreating force noting Captain Rex leading his men (with surprisingly few casualties) but no General Kenobi.

He raised his comm unit and hailed the Captain once he saw that Rex had found cover.

"Captain Rex come in." Help hailed.

**"This is Rex, go ahead."** The Captain responded.

"Sir this is Help, do you have eye's on General Kenobi?" He questioned.

The comm's were silent for a moment as Rex looked around and then paused to think.

**"Negative, no eye's on, General Kenobi is MIA."** The Captain reported.

**"And where the hell are you Trooper!?"** Rex demanded.

"improvising sir! a tactical opportunity presented itself and I'm seizing it." Help answered.

"When you and the boy's began to fall back, I grabbed a rifle and went up. I can do more good as one man up here than another man down there Sir."

He saw the Captain take a moment to shoot around cover, then order the brother's to deploy the mines. Once deployed they fell back a little further to the edge of sector 5 and dug in before the Captain commed him again.

**"I don't like Trooper's acting out against order's, but I understand your thinking Help."** The Captain said.

**"No sense in ordering you down here now. Tell me what you can see."**

Help asked the Captain to standby and took a look around. Once he had completed his survey, he responded.

"Droid column took the bait Sir, tank's are leading the advance through sector 10 now." Help reported.

"Still no sign of the General but I'll keep looking."

**"Acknowledged. Watch your back."** Rex said.

"And you Sir." He replied.

_'Now... if I were a Jedi General missing in a war zone... where would I be.'_

  
**Ahsoka POV:**

  
_'This feel's... so dumb.'_ She thought, mulling over what she and her new 'Master' were attempting.

They had hidden inside an upside-down box and crawled, Force know's how far, in order to sneak passed the enemy line's undetected.

The Clone at the briefing ('Help' she remembered.) Had come up with a sound plan in her mind. Use the Jedi's skill's to sneak in and disable the shield generator from the inside.

This though, was not what she had imagined a Jedi's impressive list of abilities to include. 

Crawling on your hand's and knee's in a box, hoping that the Tinnie's don't choose now to be smart.

If Ahsoka was being honest, she would much rather be back with the Clone's fighting shoulder to shoulder in the open with Captain Rex.

_'And perhap's using the battle as an excuse to show off to him a little.'_ She mused.

Now, even though the Jedi order had taken her in when she was very young (courtesy of Master Plo.) she still had her Torgruta instinct which easily picked up the poorly concealed arousal that the good Captain was feeling thank's to her.

She knew that her state of dress left much to be desired by the greater Jedi order, but her people only wore as much clothing as was deemed nessessary and the customary brown robes of the jedi felt consticting and stiffling to her.

She was also well aware of the Jedi order's opinion on sex and relationship's, etc. But the Captain was a damned fine man and unfortunately, control was a thing earned through experience and exposure, something she was not well versed in.

_'I'm sure it wouldn't hurt if we just flirt a little.'_ She ventured with a smile.

So caught up in her thought's was she that when they collided with something, she damned near didn't notice.

When she managed to focused again, she saw what they had bumped into.

A shielded Droideka stood over them ominously, aiming down at them with intent.

The Droideka opened fire and she and her new Master scrambled backwards, igniting their lightsabre's and deflecting the shot's back or away. The blaster bolt's that were returned to the droid bounced harmlessly off it's personal shield.

"We can't beat it's shield's!" Ahsoka said to Master Skywalker who was standing next to her.

"RUN!" He shouted.

_'Run!... The famous Anakin Skywalker want's us to run?'_ She questioned in her head.

"What!? Jedi don't run!" She yelled indignantly.

"I said run!" Anakin growled out.

She knew better than to argue here of all place's, so she did as she was ordered and ran with Master Skywalker following after her.

As they ran, the Droideka curled into itself and rolled after them, slowly gaining speed.

"Ahsoka stop!" Her 'Master' yelled.

_'For Force sake.'_ She mentally moaned.

"Make up your mind." She snipped back.

"I said, Stop!" He ordered, clearly starting to lose his patience with her.

Again she did as ordered and drew to a halt, turning on her heel to face the still rolling droid.

As it went to roll past her, she swung her blade into it's path and Master Skywalker did the same thing a second later, destroying it.

"Good." Her 'Master' said. "You can take direction's"

He moved passed her seeming very pleased at establishing himself as the leader.

_'...ugh...'_ She mentally groaned before moving to follow him toward's the shield generator.

  
**Kenobi POV:**

  
_'All seem's to be going rather well all thing's considered.'_ He thought, striking down yet another battle droid that was moving to execute a downed trooper.

The other's had successfully fallen back and by now the EMP mines should have forced the droid tank's to block the road, buying vital time for Anakin and Ahsoka.

_'If only I could fall back now too.'_ He bemoaned.

When Captain Rex had ordered the retreat as planned, Obi-wan had chosen to lag behind and cover them as they moved.

Unfortunately the droid's sheer number's had become quite overwhelming and had all but shattered any hope of following after the rest of the men.

But age and experience had calmed his mind and allowed him to stay focused on the situation at hand.

He had half a dozen Trooper's with him who had also failed to fall back and were continuing to fight alongside him against the seemingly endless march of the droid's.

_'I've been in better situation.'_ He remembered. _'Worse one's too now that I think about it.'_

Eventually the enemy onslaught simply became too much for them and Obi-wan ordered the 6 men with him to stand down and surrender.

The shield would soon fall and the Republic would send help so they shouldn't have to wait too long for a rescue.

He and the 6 Clone's were corralled down the street and into a near by building that he realised was on the edge of what the Clone's had designated as sector 10.

They were surrounded by a dozen B2 battle droid's and 2 Dwarf spider droid's when an enemy tank pulled up in front of them and the hatch opened to reveal who he could only assume was the enemies commander.

Using the force, Obi-wan moved some rubble into a rough approximation of a table with 2 chair's and sat down.

"Shall we discuss the term's of my surrender." He began.

"Perhaps over some refreshment's".

_'Time to play the waiting game, I do so love this part.'_ He thought with a small grin.

  
**Rex POV:**

  
The EMP mines had worked a treat and the droid colomn had been severly delayed at sector 6, giving them time to pick off as many of the countless droid's as they could before they resumed their assault.

The shield had halted it's advance at sector 3, cutting the men of the 501st off from Cody's boy's and the heavy cannon's. 

_'Just have to hold out long enough for the General and the little one to knock out the shield generator, then the cannon's can scrap the damn clanker's'_ He thought.

Rex could see the occasional streak of blue plasma decend from the 13th story window of a building in sector 8 and he could guess who it was.

_'So that's where you are Help.'_ He realised.

Learning that Help had decide to act on his own initiative was both a proud moment for him and one of irritation.

Rex loved independent thought amongst his brother's, but he also loved men obeying order's so he was torn on whether to be happy or irritated.

_'I'll decide later, there's no helping it now.'_ He decided.

As he and the boy's continued to fight the droid advance at sector 6 (almost sector 5 by now.) Rex's comm link chimed.

**"Captain Rex come in."** Help hailed.

"Go ahead Help" He answered, awaiting Help's news.

**"I've located General Kenobi Sir!"** Help reported to Rex's relief. **"It seem's he's been overwhelmed and detained along with six of our brother's inside a building on the other side of the street in sector 10. I have eye's on Sir."**

That wasn't good. The General had been forced to surrender for his own and the brother's sake's but fortunately Help's unique positioning present's some opportunities.

"Hold your fire for now Help. Wait until the shield goes down and get the brother's attention's, once it's down open fire and I'll have the cannon's ready to help them." Rex ordered his wayward brother.

**"Yes Sir!"** Help responded.

_'Good lad. Now come on General, everyone's waiting on you two.'_

**Ahsoka POV:**

  
They had finally made it and could see the shield generator up ahead, seemingly unguarded. 

Ahsoka could only assume that the droid's Commander had decided that it was all or nothing time and had fully committed to the assault.

_'That does work in our favour but it also means that the other's will be dealing with everything'_ She thought worriedly.

She and her Master were making a dash across the open space between themselves and the generator when she felt a slight shifting beneath her feet.

"What was-" She started to ask before the ground began to rumble and move around them.

She had evidently stepped on a pressure plate which activated a small army of, until now, buried droid sentinel's.

_'I guess they didn't leave it unguarded after all.'_ She realised.

"Nice going!" Her Master yelled at her sarcastically as if he wasn't also about to step on one of the hundred's of buried pressure plate's, just like she did.

She wouldn't admit it but Master Skywalker's constant put down's and scolding's hurt her and she didn't know what his problem was or what she was doing wrong.

_'Now's not the time to feel sorry for myself.'_ She mentally chastised herself.

"Sorry!" She yelled back half heartedly.

They ignited their lightsaber's and began to dismantle the enemy droid's one by one. 

Fortunately for them, these one's didn't have blaster's which made it so much easier to take them down.

Most time's she had to take them down by herself but sometime's she and her Master seemed to work with a natural ease, ducking under and flipping over them before striking them down or crushing them with other droid's.

Ahsoka had just finished off her last foe when she turned around to find her Master backed up against a wall, surrounded by 4 of the large droid's.

She quickly came up with a plan to help him.

"Master! Don't move!" She shouted out to him.

When she was sure that he had heard her, she reached out with the force and grasped the tall wall behind him.

With a hard pull the wall fell, crushing the droid's underneath it's weight while Master Skywalker stood hunched over but unharmed because the wall had a rather convenient hole in it when she pulled it over.

_'The force work's in mysterious way's'_ She thought amused.

Her Master soon recovered from his momentary brush with death and the berating began again.

"What the hell! You could have crushed me!" He yelled angrily.

"I knew what I was doing!" She yelled back, getting tired of being shouted at and spoken down to.

"We are going to have a long talk when this is all over young one!" He warned before walking off, over to the shield generator.

"'Sigh'... Great." Ahsoka tiredly muttered.

She walked over to join her reluctant Master in placing the charges on the generator.

Once they were done they stepped back to a safe distance and her Master pulled out the detonator.

"Here we go." was all he said before he pushed the button and the shield generator became nothing more than a burning pile a scrap.

_'Mission accomplished. Good luck boy's'_ She thought.

  
**Help POV:**

  
_'Finally'_ He mentally cheered.

The red dome of the energy shield had just collapsed meaning that General Skywalker and Commander Tano had finally managed to destroy the shield generator.

_'Now to free General Kenobi.'_ Help remembered.

He had already managed to get one of the brother's attention by creating flashes with a shard of broken glass.

That brother had then subtly alerted the other Clone's around him to Help's presence and they had quietly gotten ready for whatever he had planned.

Making a mental map of where the brother's and the droid's were standing, he planned out what to do.

All he really could do is eliminate as many of the droid's holding them captive as quickly as possible to allow the General and his brother's to rearm and rejoin the fight.

_'The droid's are most focused on the General.'_ Help noticed.

_'Eliminate the 2 SBD's holding him up and then the Dwarf Spider droid standing guard over the brother's weapon's'_ He decided.

Plan made, he raised his rifle to the window and looked through the scope (the DC-15a has a scope attachment that double's as an underbarrel grip.)

He moved until the General came into view and then took aim at the Super battle droid to his right.

Feeling the reassuring twitch in his trigger finger, he gently squeezed and a bolt of plasma opened a new vent in the hard armour of the droid.

_'One down.'_ He counted.

Quickly readjusting, he took aim at the SBD to the General's left and fired again.

The general was free to grab his lightsaber within a matter of second's

_'two down, now for the brother's'_ He continued.

By now the Clone's had reacted and while one or two were trying to fight the droid's with their bare fist's, the other's were making a mad dash for the pile of blaster's behind the Dwarf spider droid.

_'Your next'_ He thought to himself.

Help readjusted to take aim at the spider droid and, remembering his training, he fired at one of it's eye like optic's. 

It sparked and smoked as it fell to the ground allowing the Clone's to gather their blaster's again and assist the General in capturing the enemy Commander.

Within moment's all of the remaining droid's surrounding them were destroyed and General Kenobi was holding the enemy Commander at saber point.

_'Job done. Best let the Captain know.'_ He thought.

Help raised his comm link and hailed the Captain.

"Captain Rex, come in." He said.

**"Go ahead Help."** Rex responded.

"I was successful Sir." Help reported, a little proud of himself.

"General Kenobi and our captured brother's are free and have the droid Commander in custody."

**"Nicely done Vod."** Rex praised proudly.

**"We could still use your eye's so long as your up there though. The cannon's are free to fire now and we need target's."**

"Yes Sir! I'll call target's as I see them." He replied.

Quickly observing the main street, Help identified the sector's where the enemies were most densely packed and where their heavy armour was.

"Sir enemy Spider's at sector's 9 and 7." He supplied.

**"Solid copy, S9 and S7, on the way."** the Captain said.

Moment's later the booming of the heavy cannon's could be heard and the two spider droid's were struck hard.

Help commed Captain Rex again to provide a report.

"Good effect on target's Sir. S7's clear, S9 stumbled but is still standing." he said before seeing something else.

"Hold fire on sector 9 Sir. The General is moving to finish the Spider off." 

**"Copy that Help, keep me informed on the General's location."** Rex ordered.

Help continued to designate target's for the cannon crew's and let Rex know where the General and his Clone's were.

Eventually the droid column softened up enough for General Kenobi to link up with the Captain and together they could mount a proper defence.

"Sir I dont see any more target's of note, all Spider's are down." He reported at last.

**"Roger that Help. Continue to provide sniper support and watch your back up there"** the Captain replied.

Almost as soon as he said that, Help heard the EMP mine that he placed above the staircase on the floor below, detonate and knew that his time here was up and he needed to relocate.

He commed the Captain once more as he ran to move further up the building towards the roof.

"Captain Rex, my position is compromised, I've got to go further up." Help said.

**"I hear you Help, move to the roof and hold out for as long as you can."** The Captain ordered.

**"We'll get to you as soon as possible."**

"Yes Sir!" He replied.

_'Don't take too long Sir.'_ Help thought.

  
**Rex POV:**

  
_'Damn it'_ Rex yelled in his head.

Help was now trapped on the roof of a building in sector 8 and the nearest available allied force to him was fighting here in sector 5.

There was little chance of getting a team though the remaining mass of droid's to help him, and they were unable to spare the men for a rescue mission right now anyway.

The Seperatist force's had been hammered by the heavy cannon's severly, but they still out numbered the Republic force's here substantially.

_'Help's gonna need a miracle, hell we all are.'_ He thought.

Their plan had worked out better than they had hoped, but it was never more than a mean's to buy time until Republic aid arrived, and so far there had been no sign of any aid coming their way.

General Kenobi and his previously captive brethren had managed to make their way back to them thank's to Help, and together they were mounting a solid defence against the droid advance. 

But the men were tiring and charge cell's were depleting rapidly leaving everyone wondering what they were going to do.

Just when it seemed like their strength was about to buckle, R2 D2 General Skywalker's trusty astromech droid rolled up to himself and General Kenobi with an incoming call.

when the General accepted the call, a small hologram of the 501st admiral appeared.

**"General Kenobi, if you can hear me, we have broken through the blockade."** Admiral Yularen reported to many cheer's. **"The Seperatist armada is in full retreat, your reinforcement's should be landing in a moment."**

Many hoot's of victory and relief were heard from his brother's as gunship's flew low over head, blasting the remaining droid force's to scrap.

While Rex was certainly feeling relief and a desire to celebrate with his brother's, he was also in the middle of remembering something important.

_'Oh shab, Help!'_ He remembered.

Rex turned to the General and his men to remind them.

"General, before the Admiral arrived I was in communication with Help up in that tower in sector 8." He reported.

"Help has been the one providing sniper support and overwatch all this time, and last he comm'd, the droid's had found him and he was moving towards the roof."

The General took a moment to think but Rex could see that the brother's were eager to go and find their wayward Vod.

"Well we'd best go and find the man, I believe I owe him my thank's after all." General Kenobi said.

And so Rex, Kenobi and a team of Trooper's quickly moved toward's Help's tower and assended the many stair's.

_'Picked a hell of a nest Vod.'_ Rex silently cursed.

Together the rescue team moved higher and higher up until they reached the 12th floor landing, where they stumbled upon a large collection of scrapped droid's and a fried EMP charge on the ceiling.

"How curious." General Kenobi said gathering their attention.

"He did say after the briefing that he had a feeling that mine would be helpful to him."

_'The lad's got good instinct's in him.'_ Rex thought.

They continued moving upward's, bypassing more and more scrapped droid's on their way and were starting to worry about what they would find of the helpful clone, because surely there was no way he could survive on his own against this many enemies.

The rescue team went up only a few more floor's before they got their answer.

There, in the middle of the room, sat perched upon the bodies of 2 scrapped battle droid's, with his claimed rifle across his knee's was Help.

He was clearly exhausted and a little scraped up, but otherwise unharmed.

His brother had managed to fire and retreat at such a steady pace that, eventually he'd destroyed all the droid's that were sent after him.

_'This one is meant for more than being a grunt, I can tell.'_ Rex decided.

"What took you guy's so long?" Help question's from atop his throne.

_'Cheeky bastard.'_ He thought with a small smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave comment's.


	4. Helping the Hutt (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the Siege of Christophsis and a treaty with Jabba.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to cover the rest of the Clone war's movie in 1 chapter but it's quite long and still not finished, so I've broken it up as best I could. 
> 
> Please let me know what you think of this chapter, I've had a really hard time writing it (finding inspiration and drive to do it.) and there are some places here and there that I'm not sure about.
> 
> I really want to write awesome battle scene's but they're not my forte.

**Help POV:**

Following the timely arrival of the long awaited Republic reinforcement's and the successful capture of enemy Commander Whorm Loathsom, the Droid presence on Christophsis soon fell. At long last the siege of the war torn planet had ended, much to the relief of the surviving member's of Torrent company (Whose name he had learned from the Captain.) and Commander Cody's boy's from the 212th.

Help's gut instinct's had successfully lead him through his first combat deployment with hardly a scratch on him. When his position in the tower where he'd made his 'nest' was compromised, he had been forced to make a choice.

Beat a hasty retreat and make for the roof, and once there await a friendly gunship for evac. Or stand his ground and try to take as many droid's down as possible until death or aid arrived. 

While fighting to the death in a hail of plasma is how any self respecting Clone would want to go out, Help knew that when Republic reinforcement's did finally arrive, the droid's would find themselves scrapped in short order anyway. The only difference would be that yet another Clone Trooper was dead, having mistaken warrior's pride and vanity for sense. 

_'Dying a warrior's death is wasteful when pointless.'_ Help had thought.

However, while fighting to the death was not really an option, neither was waiting on the roof for a gunship. When reinforcement's did finally arrive, they would have their hand's full blasting droid's and attending to the masses of wounded brother's. For any sensible leader, preventing further death's and sustaining fewer wounded at the expense of a single Clone's life is a simple choice to make.

Friendly air unit's would be too tied up to worry about a single Clone needing evac so Help needed a third option, he needed to both retreat, and fight back against the approaching droid's. He needed to be smart and utilise whatever advantage's he had available in order to make one Clone fight like twenty.

Help needed to use the very building he was in to his advantage and make his every remaining shot count. So that's what he did.

He drew super battle droid's down tight corridor's where their armoured bulk's became their undoing. 

He played on the jumpiness and irrational cowardice that all B1 battle droid's seemed to be programmed with, resulting in instances of friendly fire, and tripping and falling down stairwell's, all thanks' to a few well placed loud bang's. 

By the time he'd reached the floor that he was eventually found on, he had run out of hasty trick's to use, and the dozen or so droid's that remained had caught up to him too closely for him to retreat any further. He had no choice but to stand and fight.

Combining a near perfect mixture of his strange instinct's and well trained skill, Help was able to scrap the remaining droid's before most even managed to fully enter the room he was in. 

When the steady flow of clanking feet finally drew to a halt, Help collapsed, exhausted, sitting down atop the smoking bodies of 2 B1 battle droid's that had made it further into the room than the rest had.

And that was how the Captain and General Kenobi had found him, a few cut's and bruises and definitely in need of rest, but otherwise unharmed.

All in all, Help's first combat deployment was a success. He'd proven his worth as a soldier and dirtied his armour on the battlefield. No longer was he a Shinie but a tried and true brother in arm's. He may not be allowed his colour's yet (because technically he wasn't assigned to a battalion.) but he felt like, perhaps when he was assigned, he had earned them.

Coming back to the present, Help focused back on what they were doing. 

Now that aid had finally arrived and the droid force's on Christophsis were leaderless and decimated, the desperate fight for their lives' had become a clean-up operation. The bodies of the dead and wounded being loaded onto ship's for transport, the droid's still active being hunted down and destroyed, and the weary men of the 501st and the 212th preparing to trade off with the relief garrison.

Help, the Captain and General Kenobi however had decided to head to the roof of the building they had found him in and were now waiting for an LAAT to pick them up.

They didn't have to wait long before one soared into view. Upon arriving at the edge of the roof, the blast shield's drew back to reveal a small escort of fresh Clone's in clean armour, and a small, green troll like creature. 

Help felt strange in this creature's presence, like a potentially crushing pressure had settled gently around him like a weighted blanket. A powerful being, yes, but one that was not a danger to him.

Help has always been able to feel certain thing's about people, like an understanding of their character that he knew wasn't normal to be able to have. When he was still a cadet on Kamino he had briefly considered asking the long-neck's about it, but the Cloner's often made him feel uneasy and his ever trustworthy gut had warned him against it. 

So far as Help knew, he was unique but only he knew about his strange abilities.

Different type's of people obviously felt different to him; the Kaminoan Cloner's were like a cold and watchful emptiness (always studying to sate their heartless curiosity.), his Clone brother's varied from vode to vode but in general they felt like a suit of warm plastoid armour (protective and familial). The Jedi he had meet so far also varied (he assumed every culture's people had subtle differences between them, no matter how similar they seem on the surface.) they felt like a calm and gentle but empty light, like a droid nurse caring for the wounded but only because of it's programming, not because it actually feel's care for you.

_'Something to do with their teaching's I suppose, I think I remember reading that the Jedi suppress their emotion's to better control themselves and their abilities.'_ Help thought.

_'But how do you guard peace and prosperity when your teaching's don't permit you to truly feel anything for the people you're protecting?'_ He asked himself.

Coming out of his philosophical musing's, Help brought his focus back to the little green creature in front of his group that he assumed, by feel, was a particularly powerful Jedi.

"Master Yoda, we're glad you could make it." General Kenobi spoke first with a relieved grin.

"Glad to see you well, I am, Master Kenobi." The now named General Yoda replied.

"See young Skywalker and Padawan Tano, I do not." General Yoda continued in the form of an inquiry.

"Anakin and Ahsoka had a mission of their own destroying a shield generator before you arrived. So far as I am aware, they are resting near it's smouldering remains'." General Kenobi answered with exasperated fondness apparent in his tone.

General Yoda paused to tap his cane idly upon the ground before he spoke again as a second LAAT pulled up behind the first one.

"To the command centre we must go Master Kenobi. The Captain, collect young Skywalker and his Padawan, he can." General Yoda suggested/instructed.

"Very well Master, let us be off then. Captain, would you be so kind?" General Kenobi said, asking the Captain to fetch General Skywalker.

"Yes Sir, we'll bring them back to the command centre." The Captain replied, moving to board the second gunship. Help decided to follow the Captain.

Once they were on board Captain Rex spoke to him and the Pilot.

"Alright lad's, let's go and collect the General and the new Commander."

  
**Rex POV:**

  
Following his direction's, the LAAT pilot began their short flight over to where they knew the shield generator to have been. Rex decided to take this opportunity to speak to Help and give the Shinie a stern talking to for not following the retreat order earlier on.

_'Though I guess he's not really a Shinie anymore.'_ Rex mused seeing the grime, motor oil and plasma scoring on Help's now grey armour.

"You were reckless down there trooper. Order's are given because they need to be followed. When soldier's refuse order's, unit cohesion fall's apart." Rex reprimanded sternly, doing his duty as a Captain to make sure the men followed order's so they could live to question them another day.

He could see by the subtle dip of the shoulder's and chin, that Help was listening to what he was saying and had taken it for disapproval. In a way it was, however Rex would never want a brother to fear being independent, they just needed to do it properly in a way that doesn't undermine the command structure or risk getting people killed.

"Yes Sir, I believe in trusting my gut so I followed it back there. I'm sorry Sir" Help said dejected, as if Rex's approval was something he wanted.

_'I didn't realise he wanted my approval already, but i guess this is his first time being away from home, he's bound to cling to someone.'_ Rex mused, understanding that the trooper at least for now, looked up to Rex like the older brother that he should be.

"I understand why you did it Help, and while I don't appreciate soldier's going lone wolf like that, I can't deny that having you up in that tower may well have saved lives here." Rex said softly now acting more like an older brother trying to teach his sibling, than a Captain scolding a subordinate.

"But war is a great big mess, and without the little scrap's of order that we have, the whole thing can descend into chaos. From now on, if your gut tells you to do something, use your damned comm link and let you CO know about it first." Rex instructed with a hint of scolding at the end, not liking that he found out Help's plan the way he did.

"Sir, yes Sir" Help replied with an audible smile underneath his bucket (that he had not removed once since they had met him). Help seemed to stand a little taller now that Rex had spoken to him, especially it seemed, since he didn't dismiss Help's 'gut feeling's' as non sense.

"Good lad." Rex ended his mini lecture and looked out to see that they were now approaching the General and his new Padawan, both of whom looked a little happier and more at ease with each other. Rex assumed that Skywalker must have had a chat with her, similar to the one he himself just had with Help.

Almost as soon as they had touched down, The General and his Padawan boarded, and they took off again heading back to the command centre with well trained efficiency.

"Great job General Skywalker." Rex praised before turning to the attractive Padawan who looked glad to see him. "You too kid".

_'for kriffs sake I messed it up again'_ Rex thought, annoyed that he couldn't seem to speak correctly to the young Torgruta.

She didn't seem angry or disappointed though at being called 'kid', in fact she actually looked grateful for the praise no matter how demeaning it might have sounded.

"Thanks' Captain. How did thing's go on your end?" Ahsoka asked. General Skywalker also looked interested to hear how thing's went.

"About as well as could be expected. We sustained some casualties and the lad's are damn near dead on their feet, but all of the heavy cannon's are still operational." Rex reported.

"That's good to hear, I'll make sure the boy's get at least a little down time as soon as possible. Speaking of which, what do you know about our relief?" General Skywalker asked before his Padawan spoke up looking disapprovingly at her master.

"We're sorry to hear about your losses Captain." She said and General Skywalker actually looked a bit sheepish having forgotten to give his condolence's (The General wasn't heartless, he just rarely stopped to think about the here and now, always thinking about the next mission).

"It's alright Sir, it's what we're bred for after all." Rex replied trying to suppress his grief, noticing the sad look Ahsoka gave him. He kept his face clear of any sadness and his mind focused on his job. "About the relief force Sir, General Yoda arrived with them, General Kenobi is with him now at the command centre."

Skywalker and Ahsoka looked relieved to know that General Kenobi was okay, and that General Yoda was here. Skywalker then asked him if they had any problem's while they were away, to which Rex replied.

"General Kenobi and half a dozen brother's managed to get themselves captured sometime after the retreat. The General hadn't fallen back with us, but thanks' to Help here, him and our boy's were able to get back to us, with Whorm Loathsome in tow." Rex reported proudly with his hand on Help's shoulder.

"He got captured? How did you get him free?" General Skywalker asked.

"I trusted my gut Sir" Help answered simply and, rather ironically, not very helpfully.

Skywalker and Ahsoka looked confused about what Help said and turned to Rex for an explanation.

"When I sounded the retreat Help took a long rifle and ascended a building in sector 8, I didn't know about it until he commed me asking where General Kenobi was. When I noticed the General and Help were missing, I asked him where he'd gone and why he was up there. It was pointless and dangerous to tell him to come down so I didn't. When Help finally spotted General Kenobi and our boy's being held hostage in sector 10, he commed me again and I ordered him to wait for the shield to go down and then help to free the General and designate target's for the heavy cannon's. The lad lives up to his name Sir." Rex explained.

The two Jedi looked suitably impressed and Rex felt irrationally envious that Ahsoka wasn't looking at him like that.

"Very well done trooper, I'm sure the men will see you get your colour's in no time." Skywalker praised.

"Thank you Sir, but I've not technically been assigned to a battalion yet, so I can't wear battalion colour's." Help replied.

"I see, I'm sure Rex wouldn't mind seeing you pulled into the 501st" Skywalker said, giving Rex permission to if he wanted to.

"Absolutely Sir, however I'm wondering if perhaps Help would rather wait to be assigned." Rex answered garnering confused look's all around.

"Help displayed an innate skill set here General, I believe he should seriously consider requesting to be sent back for specialist training in marksmanship. A well placed sniper can make a world of difference in war." He explained.

Skywalker looked thoughtful for a moment before saying that he would leave the decision up to him and Help, while Rex could tell that behind his helmet Help was shocked.

Despite being a Shinie when he arrived, Rex could already see the potential in Help, and he truly believe that he would make an excellent sniper if he so chose to. Rex would even put in the recommendation for him if he wanted.

"I, thank you Sir, I'd be more than willing to under go the training if you'd recommend me Sir" Help slightly stuttered out in shock and gratitude, earning a proud grin from him.

"Very good, but this is all going to have to wait till later. We've arrived, let's go and see Obi-wan." Skywalker ordered.

_'Let's see what the galaxy has in store for us next'_ Rex thought tiredly waiting by the gunship for the General to return with order's.

  
**Kenobi POV:**

  
Column after column of identical men in white armour marched down the boarding ramp of a nearby cruiser, accompanied by AT-TE walker's and various crate's full of supplies. The relief force that Master Yoda had arrived with preparing to exchange duties with the exhausted men he had been fighting besides merely an hour ago.

Anakin's transport had just touched down and he could see his ex-Padawan and the young Ahsoka Tano now approaching. 

He and Master Yoda had been waiting for them to arrive for a little while now and in the mean time had been catching up and filling each other in on their situation, both the one here and the one at home on Coruscant. Apparently the Republic was under great pressure trying to negotiate military access to hyperspace lane's owned by the Hutt clan. The Republic desperately needed that access for the safe and urgent transport of troop's and supplies to the various battle's in the outer rim, but Jabba the Hutt had recently presented the supreme chancellor with an ultimatum.

According to Master Yoda, somebody had decided to kidnap Jabba's son, and the mighty Jabba had given the Republic 24 hour's to find and return him otherwise the Hutt would make the same offer to the Separatist's. That was something the Republic could not afford. 

However, while the issue with Jabba was certainly pressing, Master Yoda and himself had another situation to address before sending Anakin off on this new recovery mission.

_'One Anakin is surely only too happy to oblige.'_ He thought sarcastically, remembering Anakin's past with the Hutt clan, Jabba in particular.

"Master Obi-wan, Master Yoda" Anakin Spoke with respect upon joining them, even going so far as to give a small bow of deference.

"Hmm, trouble you have with your new Padawan, I hear?" Master Yoda stated/inquired, leading Anakin and Ahsoka to look between each other in awkward silence for a moment before Obi-wan decided to break it.

"... I was explaining the situation to Master Yoda" He said slowly trying to lead Anakin to speak.

"Oh really?" Anakin asked.

_'Awe inspiring response Anakin.'_ He mentally facepalmed.

"If not ready for a Padawan, you are, then perhaps Obi-wan-" Master Yoda began to suggest before he was hastily cut off by Anakin.

"Wait a minute! I admit Ahsoka is a little rough around the edge's-" Anakin began.

_'Oh your one to talk.'_ Obi-wan thought in mild astonishment.

"But with a great deal of training. And patience! She might amount to something." Anakin finished.

_'I remember saying something similar when I took you on as my Padawan... In fact I think my own Master said something similar too.'_ Obi-wan remembered, having a small internal laugh at the thought of three generation's of Jedi Master's being bound by wishful thinking regarding their Padawan's.

"Then go with you she will, to the Teth system." Master Yoda said accepting Anakin's belief that he could mentor Ahsoka.

"Teth? That's wild space, the droid army isn't even in that sector." Anakin stated, confused as to why he was being ordered there. Master Yoda quickly cleared up his confusion.

"Kidnapped, Jabba the Hutt's son has been." Master Yoda reported gravely.

Obi-wan could already see Anakin tensing up and his face darkening at the mention of Jabba, and he knew it was going to take a little convincing to get Anakin to comply.

"You want ME to rescue Jabba's son?" Anakin questioned.

"Anakin, we'll need the Hutt's allegiance to give us an advantage over Dooku." Obi-wan stated trying to provide Anakin with enough reason to agree. He could see that Anakin had accepted the importance of this mission, albeit begrudgingly.

"Hmm, negotiate a treaty with Jabba, Obi-wan will." Master Yoda ordered. "Find the renegade's, that hold Jabba's son, your mission will be young Skywalker."

"Come on Master, it won't be that hard. I'll find Rex and get the troop's organised." Anakin's new Padawan said, clearly eager for more excitement, before she ran of to find the Captain.

_'seems like the perfect Padawan for Anakin.'_ Obi-wan thought with a small amount of smug satisfaction.

"Don't worry Anakin, just teach her everything I taught you and she'll turn out fine." He said knowing full well from personal experience that if she's anything like Anakin, it'll be true, from a certain point of view.

"You know something make's me think that this was your idea from the start." Anakin accused playfully, seemingly no longer lamenting having the responsibility of a Padawan.

Obi-wan didn't bother to reply to the accusation, he just grinned at Anakin with a smile that was equal part's pride in his brother and joy at his own successful scheme. However he still wanted to hear what Master Yoda's opinion on the matter was now that they had successfully managed to convince Anakin to take on a Padawan. He waited until Anakin had walked away after her before speaking to Master Yoda.

"Let's just hope Anakin is ready for this responsibility." He said.

"Ready he is, to teach an apprentice. To let go of his pupil, the greater challenge, it will be. Master this, Skywalker must." Master Yoda replied seemingly confident in Anakin's ability to teach, but also pointing out a problem all Master struggle with.

Obi-wan himself could attest to the difficulty that come's with finally allowing your Padawan to progress, to let them move on from your mentorship and become a fully fledged Knight in their own right and take on a Padawan learner of their own. To most Jedi, a Padawan is as close as they will ever come to having a child of their own.

Watching Anakin and Ahsoka fly off with Captain Rex and the strange Clone trooper called Help, Obi-wan sent a silent prayer of good luck up after them before turning to address Master Yoda once more.

"Well if I've got to make a deal with Jabba the Hutt I'd best be on my way." He announced.

With that said, he turned towards his starfighter that was waiting nearby and boarded it, giving a silent nod of acknowledgement to his trusty astromech droid R4 and flew away from Christophsis, on route to Tatooine.

_'Oh joy.'_ He thought with his trademark sass.

  
**Anakin POV:**

  
After finding where his new Padawan had run off to, they had told Rex to get the men in order and to be ready to depart for the Teth system immediately. Rex had begun ordering the men to prepare straight away, always ready to do his duty. It was a little strange (and slightly amusing) to see the unmarked, dirt covered young Clone trooper from the Gunship following Rex around asking what he can do to help.

It seemed that during the recent battle, Rex had taken a liking to odd trooper who called himself 'Help'. His action's and achievement's during the battle were certainly impressive and noteworthy, especially for a Clone who's never been in live fire combat before. Anakin could somewhat understand Rex taking him under his wing and recommending him for advanced training already.

Once Rex had gotten the order's out and the men were boarding transport's heading to the Acclimator class assault ship that was in orbit around the planet, they boarded a transport of their own and followed suit. Himself, Ahsoka, Rex and Help (Apparently he was Rex's shadow now.) quickly arrived at the ship, and once everyone else was safely on board, he ordered the ship's Captain to make the jump to Teth.

The journey through hyperspace was thankfully short and upon arriving at their destination, a small republic transport flew through the hanger bay door's and landed nearby where Anakin was waiting. The boarding ramp for the shuttle lowered to reveal 2 camouflaged scout trooper's who he knew had been sent to Teth ahead of them, following the trail of the suspected kidnapper's. Anakin made his way over to them wanting to hear their report.

"Lieutenant, did the kidnapper's see you?" He asked knowing that most Clone's preferred to get straight down to business.

"No sir, we're the best scout's in the regiment" The lead scout replied proudly.

Anakin internally rolled his eye's wondering just how many people claim to be the best at what they do. He had little reason however to doubt that these men were well trained.

"What about the bounty hunter's, are they still down there?" He asked wanting to know as much as possible about what they were getting themselves into.

"I don't think so, we haven't seen 'em in a while." The lieutenant answered and then looked towards his partner who shook his head 'no'.

"Okay, well what are we up against?" Anakin asked.

The lieutenant pulled out a small, personal holo device that was attached to his belt and used it to project a 3D image of a temple-like building atop a tall, sheer cliff.

"Look's to us like at least two droid battalion's protecting a monastery. It's heavily fortified so you won't be able to land there." The lieutenant reported concisely.

"Good work, get some rest." Anakin ordered knowing that the two scout's would grateful for the chance to decompress right now.

He was pleased with the scout's report of their potential opposition, but less pleased with the inevitable fight that it will take in ordered to liberate the monastery. They will have to land at the base of the cliff face, charge over open ground under fire from above with no cover, scale the cliff face still under fire, and then clear out the monastery and find Jabba's son. A hard fight, but if anyone could do it, it's Rex's men.

Now that he had something of a plan in his head, he crossed the hanger with R2 trying to find Rex so they could hammer out the detail's. However what they found was a gathering of various classes of Clone trooper's who appeared to be listening to a war story being told by his new Padawan Ahsoka. He could also see Rex and his new protégé Help here too.

"That sound's like a lot, even for a Jedi." One trooper said sounding sceptical of whatever story his Padawan was telling.

"I heard you were surrounded by droid's, how did you even manage to get the shield down?" Another asked sounding awed.

His Padawan launched into the story eagerly, clearly enjoying the attention and praise that she was receiving for her first battle.

"Okay so there's this wall behind him with a hole in the middle, so I pulled the wall down on top of the droid's destroying them and saving the general." Ahsoka finished her story sounding quite pleased with herself.

Anakin was not feeling particularly pleased hearing this story being told at his expense, and it was made even worse when the men broke out into chuckle's. 

"Is that true Sir?" Rex asked him with a subdued smirk.

"Well... most of it." He replied having been in Ahsoka's place before and wanting her to enjoy it while she can, before they are sent back into the thick of it.

Anakin was about to bring the men to order and prepare them for the assault on the monastery, but before he could, Rex took the opportunity to answer some question's that the men had about the battle on Christophsis.

"Hey did anyone find out who the daft shab up in that tower was?" One of the gathered Clone's asked no one in particular.

"Yeah, mad bastard was up there all on his own sniping clanker's. Even saved my squad and General Kenobi when we were being held captive." Said another Clone that he figured was one of the one's who were taken hostage alongside Obi-wan.

Rex stepped forward proudly dragging a still helmeted, still dirt covered, reluctant looking Help along with him.

"That would be this Shinie right here. CT-9734, goes by Help. He was one of the emergency batch of Shinie's that arrived before the battle with the supplies and the EMP mines we used." Rex reported, clearly proud of his younger brother.

The other Clone's around them were quick to express their gratitude for the much needed supplies and extra men, most of whom had survived and were now filling in empty space's in depleted squad's. He could see that Help had managed to earn some respect amongst the men for his action's and thanks' to Rex's bragging. Some of them were asking the young Clone question's, like; 

"What the hell were you doing up there? and alone, dumb Shinie".

"Are you joining the 501st, we'd be proud to have you with us brother".

"How did you survive up there? droid's must have made it inside before it was over".

"I heard Rex might be recommending you for advanced training, sniper training. Is that true?".

Help answered the Clone's question's as simply and humbly as he could, and most time's he simply replied with "I was just trusting my gut". A strange trooper indeed.

Once story time was over and all the question's had been answered, Anakin figured it was time to prep the men for the next engagement.

"Alright men, we still got a job to do." Anakin began. 

He then went on to give the men a briefing explaining what they were doing here. A search and rescue mission for Jabba the Hutt's son who had been kidnapped. The men were informed of why they were doing this and what they will likely be facing once they get planet side. As soon as the briefing ended, Rex gave the order's.

"Okay lad's, you heard the General, Get your gear and get set, dismissed!" Rex barked.

As the men dispersed, Anakin walked over to his Padawan wanting to give her a lecture.

"Would this be a good time to teach you that a Jedi is humble my young Padawan?" He asked sarcastically.

"Sorry, just trying to keep the boy's inspired is all." Ahsoka said, clearly not sorry at all and smirking smugly.

  
**Help POV:**

  
Out of the Rancor's pit and straight into another one. It seemed he had barely been able to catch his breath after Christophsis, before they were setting off for Teth. On route to their new destination he had enjoyed listening to his recently met brother's and the new Commander telling war stories. At least he was until the Captain had decided to brag about his action's during the recent battle.

Help knew that what he'd done there was note worthy, and that several of these men would be dead by now were it not for his intervention, but he wasn't particularly fond of bragging. Bragging was for men who likely had nothing to actually brag about and so told lies. Help understood why exaggerated tale's were important at time's like this, to keep moral up, but that didn't mean that he liked it.

Help didn't really want praise or admiration, he just wanted to be able to help people. To feed the hungry, defend the defenceless, mend a broken person. Of course it felt nice to be acknowledged for your achievement's, but Help preferred watching the result's of his action's from the side-line's more than hearing people thanking him. He liked standing nearby and seeing the smile that he managed to put on someone's face, or seeing someone reunited with their family and sharing a hug because he was there to defend them. He liked seeing his impact on people's lives' more than hearing their gratitude to him.

He was brought back to the present by the immergence of a blue holographic figure in the shape of a hooded man. General Skywalker, Commander Tano, Captain Rex, himself and a handful of other trooper's from Torrent company were standing inside of an LAAT gunship that was flying down to the planet's surface. The holographic figure that had appeared was none other than General Kenobi, contacting General Skywalker from Tatooine where he was negotiating with Jabba the Hutt.

Help tried to absorb as much information as possible about the mission, both the politics' and the logistics' of it, because every action has consequence's and it's best to make informed decision's, even when you are only a Clone trooper.

**"Alright Anakin, here's the story, Jabba has given us only one planetary rotation to get his son back home to Tatooine safe and sound."** General Kenobi said.

_'One planetary rotation to capture the monastery, find the Huttling, and transport him back to Tatooine safely.'_ Help broke down the report into step's.

"Won't take us that long Master" General Skywalker replied cockily.

**"Take extreme care, we have no idea who is holding Jabba's son. When I have finished negotiation's with him I will join you."** General Kenobi said and then ended the transmission.

_'Unknown kidnapper/kidnapper's (Capture alive if possible.), at least two reported droid battalion's against one Clone company, and reinforcement's are a few standard hour's out at least (General Kenobi and his boy's are unavailable until after negotiation's conclude).'_ Help continued to simplify.

He turned to Rex and relayed his understanding of the mission and it's parameter's to make sure he had gotten them correct which Rex confirmed. Some of the other Clone's around them and even Commander Tano listened in, a few impressed by his break down of the mission and other's grateful to have some detail's clarified that they weren't fully aware of (like the capture priority placed on the kidnapper's).

"You're observant and you're taking in detail's well, both the clear and the unspoken one's. That's good, you're intuitive, it will serve you well. Just make sure to remember it all once we're down there, and keep taking everything in. Chances are you may end up being called on to keep us up to date on thing's that we might have missed or forgotten." The Captain said, proud of his ability to take in information and warning him of the responsibility that come's with a talent like that.

"If you're serious about going back for that specialist advanced training, a talent like that is gonna serve you well. Being able to take in as much information as possible, as detailed as possible, and then relay it back clearly and concisely to command is what make's scout sniper's such valuable asset's." The Captain continued, once more encouraging him to pursue that path.

"Sir, yes Sir! I'm definitely interested in specialist training." Help responded earning him a proud grin. 

Somewhere along the line, Help had managed to make Captain Rex something of a mentor and handler. As he wasn't officially assigned to any battalion or company yet, Help was in need of someone to take command of him, and he had latched onto Rex. The Captain seemed to accept this without word's and was trying to guide him as best as possible for however long he was under his command, something that Help was incredible grateful for.

Now that everything was cleared up and they were as prepared as they could be, everyone began preparing themselves to disembark under fire. Helmet's were secured and blaster's loaded with fresh charge cell's when the pilot spoke to confirmed that they were coming up on the monastery.

"Stay close to me... if you can." General Skywalker told Commander Tano (who Help noticed the Captain had been discreetly staring at since they had collected her on Christophsis).

"It won't be a problem Master." Commander Tano replied confidently.

"This isn't practice Ahsoka." General Skywalker said sternly, warning the Commander not to get overconfident.

"I know, and I'll try not to get you killed." She responded light heartedly at the end, taking the warning seriously but also trying to keep the mood light, which seemed to be working judging by the smirk on the General's face.

Almost immediately afterwards the gunship they were in rocked violently and explosion's could be heard outside as they were fired upon from the monastery. Everyone braced as well as they could and hoped that the droid's famously bad aim held true today.

"Sir, we're taking heavy fire." The pilot reported.

"Close the blast shield's lieutenant, get us under those gun's" General Skywalker ordered.

"Yes Sir!" The pilot responded before hitting the switch that closed the blast shield's over the cargo bay door's, greatly limiting their visibility but increasing their protection to shrapnel and plasma. Help thought it would be prudent to ask the pilot some question's before they landed.

"Lieutenant, can you tell what their shooting at us with? Do they have heavy cannon's or is it dwarf spider's?" He asked.

"It's hard to tell but based on the size of the incoming round's and the rate of fire I'm guessing spider's." The pilot replied quickly.

_'That's good, mean's they don't have proper anti-air here or heavy artillery to bombard us with.'_ He thought.

The Captain also seemed to be thinking along the same line's.

"If their having to use dwarf spider droid's as anti-air that mean's they likely don't have any real heavy weapon's. Once we're on the ground and all of their focus is directed down at us, our air unit's may have enough room to make one or two quick strafe's. Good thinking Help." Captain Rex said expanding upon his inquiry.

The Jedi's and Clone's around him all looked grateful that Help and Rex had managed to identify and point out a potential weakness in the enemies air defence, freeing up the possibility for some light air support. However, Help could also feel the General's mood darkening, as if he was annoyed that he hadn't come up with it.

"Yes Sir! My thinking is that once we commit to our ascent, they're gonna focus everything they've got on stopping us from reaching the top. While they're busy looking down, we hit them from above." He said feeling a little proud of himself.

"Good thinking trooper. Pilot, once we disembark, pull back out of range and go high. Once we've begun our ascent, we'll contact you and you drop on them from above." General Skywalker ordered sounding less than pleased to thank him, when Help had another thought.

"Use the sun. Keep the sun at your back's, they won't spot you so fast and it'll play havoc with their optic's." He suggested to which the pilot nodded and relayed to the two other gunship's flying with them.

"Nice thinking you guy's." Commander Tano praised himself and the Captain, which made Rex puff his chest out a little which in turn seemed to make Tano blush ever so slightly, a subtle darkening of the blue in her Montral's and Lekku.

"Just trusting my gut Commander." Help replied.

"You know you say that a lot, is there any particular reason why?" The Commander asked, seemingly unbothered by the fact they were still getting shot at and that they were fast approaching the drop zone. His gut wasn't warning him about anything so he assumed it was safe to talk about with them (just not the Kaminoan's).

"I get feeling's about thing's, warning's when something is dangerous or going to end badly. I've gotten used to them and I know how to interpret them fairly well by now. I've only ignored it once before and one of my pod brother's got hurt in a training exercise because of it, 9 time's out of 10 if my gut warns me about something, I'll trust it." He explained, which drew intrigued and contemplative look's from the Jedi's and his brother's.

"Almost sound like the Force, who knows, maybe you're actually a Jedi hiding under that armour." Commander Tano said jokingly.

That made Help wonder, he didn't really know anything about this 'Force' that was so important to the Jedi and their mortal enemies, the Sith. All he knew was that it gave them the power's and abilities which made them so special. Help resolved to try and learn more about the Force as, once again his trusty gut seemed to be encouraging him to do so.

Putting that aside for now, everyone focused back on the mission as they were now almost on top of the designated drop zone. The red pre-drop warning light shone ominously over head, and the brother's all performed last second comm's and weapon's check's. One Clone called 'Wedge' being told about static coming from his helmet which he quickly fixed.

"Red light, standby." The pilot announced which was followed by the sound of blaster's priming.

"Welcome to paradise Rock Jumper's." The pilot said.

He felt the moment that the LAAT settled just inches above the ground and readied himself to follow Captain Rex the moment the light turned green and the blast door's slid open. He didn't have to wait long, and as soon as the pilot announce the green light, everyone surged out into the open.

The moment they disembarked, everything became loosely organised chaos. General Skywalker stormed ahead towards the base of the cliff face, and his Clone brother's rushed forward's in roughly the same direction, barking order's and warning's whilst trying to avoid the heavy rain of blaster fire from above. 

The half a dozen AT-TE's that they had available also moved forward as fast as they were able to, while behind them Clone's stuck close using them for moving cover as they advanced. 

General Skywalker and Commander Tano used their lightsabre's to deflect stray blaster bolt's safely away, and Clone's fired aimlessly at the top of the cliff hoping to suppress the enemy. Help knew better than to waste his ammo here and so he focused mainly on staying low and following the Captain who was himself, following the General.

The combined fire from the infantry and the tank's eventually provided enough cover for them to charge across the open plain until they arrived at the base of the cliff, amazingly sustaining only a few casualties. Once they were all gathered and pressed tight to the cliff face preparing to ascend it, Help's gut flared with warning alerting him to something behind him. Turning around quickly, he saw the General raising his comm link to his face, clearly about to order in the pilot's for an attack run despite it clearly being too early to do so.

"No General, wait!" Help shouted at him earning a disapproving glare from the already upset Skywalker. 

"We need that air support to scale this cliff unless you want us to be blown to piece's or fall to our death's trooper." General Skywalker shouted back angrily.

_'Get pissy all you want, I'm not gonna let you kill my brother's because you're impatient and throwing a tantrum.'_ Help thought in response to the General's petty mood.

"Sir chance's are the gunship's will only get one clear run before the droid's tighten up their air defences. We need to wait until we're already about half way up because that's when they will be most desperate to stop our ascent and thus when their focus will be most on us." Help explained calmly.

The General clearly wasn't pleased, whether it be at having to wait or being talked back to by a new Clone trooper, he didn't know. Help trusted his gut far more than he cared about this General's opinion of him, so he stuck to his gun's. Eventually, with the Captain's and Commander's convincing, General Skywalker reluctantly agreed to hold off on the air support until they were at the mid way point.

"You better hope you're right about this trooper, you're 'gut' is putting lives' on the line." The General said sounding unnecessarily angry, like a child throwing a tantrum because he's been told that he can't play with a new toy yet. He also clearly didn't believe in Help sixth sense.

"When you find out that I'm right, I expect an apology at the top... Sir" Help replied snarkily. He knew that he shouldn't back talk the General like this, but something about the man put him on edge. Skywalker didn't feel like a Jedi should and it was disturbing him. Help was almost wanting to be sent away from him. There was a violent darkness to Anakin Skywalker that felt too deeply ingrained in him to remove.

Around them his brother's were looking at him in what he could only guess was shock, and a stunned silence had descended around them, broken only by the sound of blaster fire and the quick bark of order's. Commander Tano actually looked a little worried about what was going on between himself and the General, and the Captain's body language showed he was disapproving and worst of all, disappointed in him.

Help didn't want to disappoint the Captain, but he wasn't going to be a push over and he wasn't going to back down in his belief's. Not even to the Jedi, and especially not this Jedi. 

"I confess, I don't know much about you're people General, but petulant anger doesn't seem like the Jedi way. I know it's insubordination and I know that this isn't the right time or place to argue, but I trust my gut a damn sight more than I trust you. So let's get up this damned cliff and you can shout at me all you want when we reach the top." Help said firmly to the scowling Jedi.

A few moment's of awkward silence and a stare down between himself and the General followed, but was soon broken rather uncomfortably by the poor Commander.

"Okay... I guess this is where the fun begins." Commander Tano said, clearly trying to ease the tension that had built between the Shinie and the Famous Jedi General. It appeared to work on Skywalker at least as he quickly turned away to begin a childish game with his Padawan.

"Race you to the top." The General proposed.

"I'll give you a head start." Commander Tano replied good naturedly.

"Your mistake." General Skywalker said cockily.

The two Jedi then leapt up the cliff face and began to climb using strong vine's which grew down from the top. Captain Rex gave the order to use ascension cable's and almost as one, they fired upwards and began the long climb, closely followed by the AT-TE's that had attached themselves and were now walking vertically up the cliff face.

Commander Tano swung across and landed on the side of one of the AT-TE's and began deflecting blaster fire whilst hanging on to the walker. Up above them the hail of plasma intensified and focused primarily on their tank's, destroying one and killing the cannon operator for the one the Commander was on.

When the Commander managed to climbed onto the front view port of the walker to deflect enemy fire (no doubt giving the driver an interesting view.) Help swung himself over to it and climbed his way up to the now vacant gunner's seat. Once sat in it, he tried his best to make sense of and familiarise himself with the control's. When he could roughly understand how it all worked, he began firing away at any dwarf spider droid's that he could see, knowing that they presented the greatest threat.

As he was firing he saw 4 STAP's approaching from the left hand side heading straight for the Commander. Just as they were about to pass by where she could strike out at them, one managed to land a hit on the front left leg of the tank which then detached from the cliff face and caused the walker to fold over backwards on itself. This caused the Commander to tumble and roll over the edge of the cockpit which she barely managed to grab onto, just about stopping herself from falling.

Up ahead the General panicked seeing his Padawan about to fall so he rushed back down and landed on the front of the walker. Just as he was about to reach down and grab her hand to pull her up, the Commander lost her grip and let out a brief scream as she began to fall. The General looked on in horror as she started to plummet, but before she could fall too far, Help reached out from his seat atop the AT-TE they were riding on and grabbed the Commander's hand.

"Good ol' gut strike's again." Help shouted to the General and Commander, wanting the General to understand. Commander Tano looked very grateful for being caught and for a second so did the General before his childish scowl came back.

"Also, now's the time to call in the air support General." Help said reminding him.

The General quickly called in the gunship's before he leapt off of the walker and pogoed between the STAP's destroying them one by one and riding the last one up towards the top. 

"Gotta keep up!" The General shouted down to the Commander as she was still hanging from Help's hand.

"Hey no fair!" She shouted back childishly.

Help quickly pulled her back up and she remounted the front view port to deflect blaster bolt's. As General Skywalker sped ahead of them, the gunship's arrived and performed several lightning fast strafing run on the droid forces on the plateau.

_'You'll see why they had to hold back once you're up their General, I know you will.'_ Help thought, knowing that he could trust his gut on this.

  
**Anakin POV:**

  
He was pushing the droid speeder bike as hard as he could and was quickly approaching the top of the cliff. Over head he saw the gunship's finally making their attack run's and felt a surge of annoyance at the insubordinate Clone from earlier.

_'Who the hell does he think he is trying to order a Jedi around and lecturing me of all people on the Jedi way!'_ Anakin ranted internally.

He knew that he was being ridiculous and that the trooper was the one talking sense, but Anakin's pride and impatience were getting the better of him and his sense of self importance was blinding him to common sense.

Once he reached the top, he bailed off of the STAP and combat rolled into a defensive stance. The first thing he noticed upon looking around was the sheer number of droid's that the strafing run's had destroyed and he knew straight away that, had they not been focusing completely on the ground force's scaling the cliff, then the gunship's would have been blown out of the sky after the first run.

_'Oh great, the Clone was right.'_ Anakin thought annoyed once again.

Before he could dwell on it for too long, 3 droideka's rolled out from the monastery and deployed in front of him, preparing to fire.

"Blast it Ahsoka, I told you to stay close to me." He cursed under his breath, once again knowing that he was the one in the wrong for speeding off ahead without her, but passing the blame onto her anyway.

A large streak of blue plasma shot over head from behind him and completely obliterated the droid's. When he turned around to see who it was, he was pissed to see that the one who had fired was the same Clone from earlier seated atop the AT-TE, with his Padawan standing beside the turret.

"And That's 3 now General, 3 time's my gut has been right. It's saved your gunship's, your Padawan and now you." The Clone said firmly but oddly not condescendingly, like he was trying to make a point to him, not show off or brag.

At this point Anakin had to face fact's and admit defeat, He had gotten irrationally angry and jealous (which was not the Jedi way, as the Clone had rightly pointed out.), and he'd been petulant and self entitled. The Clone, Help he remembered, deserved that apology that he had asked for before the climb.

As soon as, everyone else reached the top, Rex and his men set about searching the area. He quickly returned with a status report.

"All clear General, we've sustain a few casualties, some dead, some not." Rex reported.

"Nice work Rex, have some men look after the wounded." He ordered and looked around for Help, wanting to apologise sooner rather than later.

"Roger that Sir, the gunship's have pulled back and are holding at a safe distance." Rex finished reporting.

When Anakin finally found Help, he saw him sitting on top of a broken spider droid, cleaning his rifle and resorting his gear. As he was walking over, the Clone trooper looked up but didn't say anything, clearly waiting for him to speak first.

"... Ahem... You were right, anger is not the Jedi way and I was out of line...You were also correct that if I had called in the gunship's when I was going to, they would have been blown to piece's..." Anakin said slowly and uncomfortably as the young Clone's helmet just stared back at him silently.

"You also saved Ahsoka's life... And probably my own too".

Still nothing but a silent stare and his own reflection in the Clone's black visor.

"... I'm sorry..." Anakin finally said, having given up trying to avoid doing so.

"... Apology accepted General." Help replied after a short silence, sounding like he couldn't care less about the fact that Anakin Skywalker was admitting that he was wrong and was also apologising to him.

"I know what you're thinking Sir, I can feel it, and I don't care about your apology because I don't care who you are. You are the General I am currently serving and nothing more, I respect your rank not your name. And if I'm being brutally honest sir, I don't like you, you don't feel right to me. There's a darkness in you that I can't see a way to fix" Help said before standing up smoothly and walking away, leaving him stunned and oddly shamed.

_'He can feel a darkness in me?'_


	5. Helping the Hutt (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter covering the event's of the movie.

**Rex POV:**

  
Scaling the cliff to reach the monastery whilst under fire had been as just as harrowing as could be expected, only one of the AT-TE's had actually managed to make it to the top, all but that one either being destroyed or used to transport the dead and wounded back down to the bottom to be collected safely. 

Aside's from their losses, the hastily put together assault plan they had come up with had worked well. The gunship's had managed a number of highly effective attack run's which had cleared the plateau for them to safely crest the top.

What wasn't a part of the plan, was Help and Skywalker snapping at each other's throat's and arguing in the middle of an active battlefield. The General had become needlessly hostile when Help was making observation's and suggestion's that were made with the intention of saving Live's, and eventually he had responded in kind, albeit rather calmly.

It was pretty obvious to Rex what was going on there, Help was earning respect from the men, the Commander and the flyboy's, and the General had gotten jealous that he wasn't the center of attention, the big hero. Rex understood that his General was sometimes prone to letting his reputation and status as the Chosen one and the great Jedi leader of the 501st go to his head.

Rex also knew that he was going to have to reprimand and punish Help for what he did, back talking and arguing with a Jedi is unacceptable behaviour from a Clone trooper and tantamount almost to treason. 

However he was finding it difficult to stay disappointed with Help because in the end, his suggestion's and instruction's had been correct and effective, not to mention Rex had watched on uselessly as the Commander had fallen, feeling a shot of true fear in his heart thinking that she was going to die, when Help had reached out and grabbed her mid-air.

_'For that alone I'm grateful to the lad'_ Rex thought, not quite sure why he was so worried for the young Torgruta girl.

He could see the General now, standing over Help presumably chastising him for his insubordination earlier.

Rex had already assigned men to watch over the remaining wounded as the General had ordered, and was now waiting on the order for them to move into the monastery. They had come here to find and retrieve the son of Jabba the Hutt and they had a deadline to keep to.

_'We don't have time for Help and Skywalker to have a dick measuring contest.'_ He grumbled internally.

Fortunately he didn't have to wait much longer as he saw Help rise once again from his seat atop the body of a downed droid and walk calmly towards him. Because of his armour and helmet, as best as Rex could tell, Help wasn't angry or sheepish, he actually seemed calm and unaffected by whatever the General had said to him.

"Sir I would like to apologise to you, not for what I said or did earlier, but for whatever difficulties it may or may not have caused you. I'm sorry Sir." Help said calmly upon reaching him.

_'You have to respect him for sticking to his gun's at least.'_ He thought.

"Yes well, while your suggestion's were greatly appreciated lad, fighting with the General is not. So while I accept your apology, I expect better from you in the future. Understood?" Rex said sternly.

"Yes Sir."

"And of course you will have to be dealt some sort of punishment for your insubordination, but I will decide what that will be after the mission is complete." He continued.

"Yes Sir."

"Good. Now, what did the General have to say?" Rex asked.

"He apologised to me and admitted that he was the one in the wrong, I accepted his apology." Help replied but Rex could tell that there was a little more to it than that. However he was just glad that everything was forgiven and they could get on with the mission, so he chose to let it go.

"He apologised... Wow, I didn't think he had it in him. Huh, anyway come on, we still have a job to do here." He said and they both turned and started moving over towards Skywalker and Commander Tano.

As they were walking over, Rex took the opportunity to thank Help.

"Good job, you saved lives' here today, including the Commander's. Thank you." He said sincerely.

"Thank you Sir, and your welcome... Can I ask you something Sir?" Help questioned.

"Shoot."

"You're attracted to the Commander aren't you?"

Rex was so shocked at the question that he damn near tripped over his own feet. For a moment, all he could do was stutter before bursting into denial's and then finally pulling rank to try escape the situation.

"I, wha, it, n-no, I don't, that's, this is unacceptable behaviour and a highly inappropriate line of questioning soldier. I don't like what you're insinuating!" 

"... So that's a yes then Sir?" Help asked with a smile clear in his voice.

Rex took a moment to think about it properly, and he had to admit that, at the very least he was attracted to the young Torgruta. She was incredibly pretty and he knew that in a year or two, she would grow to be a highly desirable young woman. However Rex knew that, despite being attracted to her, nothing could ever come of it, she is a Jedi who is forbidden from forming attachment's, and he is a Clone, a soldier bred for war and nothing more.

"She seems nice Sir, and if I were to hazard a guess, I'd say she like's you too." He said breaking him from his musing's.

_'She does?'_ He mental questioned.

He noticed that while he was deep in thought, they had finally reached Skywalker and the Commander in question.

"... err, right, men have been assigned to watch over the wounded General, the rest are ready to move into the monastery when you are." Rex reported.

"Very good Rex, let's do it." Skywalker ordered sounding a little subdued since his talk with Help. Almost like he was in thought about something.

"Yes Sir".

It took mere moment's to get the men into position, and once ready, they moved in. Skywalker and Commander Tano took the lead followed by Himself, Help and two more men, and four more bringing up the rear. They moved slowly, checking every corner, every shadow, and every overhang to defend against any potential ambushes.

Once through the main door's they continued to move deeper in at a steady pace. Rex paid little attention to the conversation that the two Jedi were having about the monastery, something about the people who built it and how and why smuggler's use building like these as den's. They hadn't made it too far in when an old looking protocol droid waddled into view causing everyone to tense up and raise their weapon's in anticipation of an attack.

_'Bit silly to worry about a protocol droid of all thing's but hey, better safe than sorry.'_ He thought.

"Who are you?" Skywalker demanded.

"Merely the humble caretaker, oh mighty Sir. You have liberated me from those dreadful battle bot's. I am most thankful." The droid replied in it's flat, nasally synthetic voice.

"Where is the Hutt?" Skywalker asked.

"The battle bot's kept their prisoner's on the detention level. I must warn you, it is very dangerous down there my friend. Not a place for a servant girl." The droid answered looking at Ahsoka. The insinuation making his blood boil.

_'Why you shiny, silver piece of-'_ He fumed to himself while Ahsoka leapt forward and held her lightsaber at the droid's throat, clearly incensed.

"Do servant girl's carry these?" She asked sarcastically.

_'She's actually kinda hot when she's mad.'_ Rex thought, slowly becoming more aroused than angry.

"I'm a Jedi knight!" She continued, prompting a cross armed stare from Skywalker. "Or soon will be."

"A thousand apologies, young one." The droid said, sounding a little mocking.

"Captain we'll go find the Hutt, stay here and keep your eye's open." Skywalker ordered as he and Commander Tano started walking towards the detention level.

"Copy that Sir." He replied.

_'Don't take too long General, this place is giving me the creep's.'_

  
**Help POV:**

  
The General and Commander had gone off on their own to find the Huttling, leaving Rex, himself, and the other Clone's behind to secure the area as best they could. The AT-TE had been moved into the courtyard to hopefully provide it with some extra fire power in the event of an attack, and everyone else was outside patrolling for anything of note. The Captain was busy coordinating the men and keeping the General up to date.

"No sign of anymore droid's Captain." A Clone sergeant reported.

"Alright sergeant." The Captain replied and then used his comm link to update the General.

"General Skywalker the castle is secure... and it's nearly mid day".

  
**"Thanks' Rex, we've got Jabba's son, any sign of General Kenobi yet?"** The General responded. 

"Not yet Sir" The Captain answered, which was worrying as no General Kenobi meant no reinforcement's if they got into a scrap anytime soon.

**"Okay, we'll be back out soon Rex, stay alert."** The General ordered.

They didn't have to wait long before the General and Commander emerged from the monastery, the commander carrying a slug like Huttling in her arm's.

"Trooper, fetch me a backpack." The General called out and a Clone ran over to him with an empty pack which they tried to squeeze the little Hutt into.

As they were doing this, Help couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched from somewhere and that danger was approaching. So he walked over to the Captain to express his concern's.

"Sir, something doesn't feel right." He said.

"How do you mean?" The Captain asked.

"Not sure Sir... Gut feeling." 

"Hmm, keep your eye's open lad." The Captain ordered quietly, seeming to actually put some stock in his gut feeling's.

"Yes Sir."

While he was talking to the Captain, the General and the Commander had walked over to a near by Jedi starfighter, and were contacting General Kenobi. Captain Rex moved to stand at General Skywalker's shoulder so Help moved over to the Commander's.

  
**"Anakin, did you manage to locate Jabba's son?"** General Kenobi asked.

"We have him, but it look's like the Separatist's are behind his abduction. This smell's like Count Dooku to me." General Skywalker reported gravely.

"I think it's little stinky you smell." Commander Tano whispered referring to the Huttling, making the Captain shake with silent laughter.

_'Oh yeah, you don't have feeling's for her at all Sir.'_ Help thought sarcastically with a grin hidden behind his helmet.

_'Little guy does reek though.'_

**"I'll bet Dooku is trying to use us to convince Jabba to join the Separatist's."** General Kenobi speculated.

_'A sound plan for a seasoned manipulator I guess.'_ Help figured.

"Master Kenobi, we have another problem, this Huttlet is very sick." Commander Tano said.

"Not sure we can get him back to Tatooine alive Master, this whole rescue may backfire on us. I still don't think dealing with the Hutt's is a good idea." General Skywalker warned.

**"Anakin, you know they control shipping route's in the outer rim. Jabba's cooperation is crucial to the war effort. If anything should happen to his son, our chances of a treaty with him will disappear."** General Kenobi warned in return.

A brief moment of silence followed General Kenobi's statement during which, he cut the transmission having said everything that needed to be said. The moment of silence was quickly shattered however by the scream's and whine's of CIS ship's sailing overhead, a small fleet of droid landing craft's and a swarm of Vulture droid escort's rapidly approaching the monastery.

"We've got trouble!" Commander Tano said.

They had a little more than trouble on their hand's. They were a only single company of Clone's, already weary from the fighting on Christophsis even before they liberated the monastery. After the hard climb up the cliff face, they numbered only a hundred strong with a single walker available to provide firing support, against 2 landing craft's worth of assorted droid combatant's and a sky full of droid star fighter's capable of performing unimpeded, lightning fast attack run's against them from above.

_'There is no conceivable way that we could win here. At best, we hold out long enough for General Kenobi to arrive with reinforcement's, and hope that his flyboy's can punch a hole through the Vulture droid's before our defence collapse's.'_ Help thought.

"General, our force's can't beat theirs in a straight fight, overwhelming number's are just that... Overwhelming. Our only shot at surviving this, as far as I can tell, is if we can manage to hold out until General Kenobi arrives with reinforcement's." He spoke calmly and clearly. 

Help understood that what was best here was to state the cold hard fact's but to do so in such a way as to inspire hope. To just state that the odd's were stacked against them so heavily would only succeed in sapping morale, however, finishing that statement with a potential way out of the situation should inspire everyone to fight as hard as they can to achieve that possibility. Information is most useful when it's plain and simple, but the delivery of said information can make all the difference. His strange empathic ability had taught him this.

Behind the Captain's helmet Help could tell that he was smiling, as a leader he would be familiar with finding method's of giving people news and order's in way's that kept people's hope's up. Around them Help could see slumped shoulder's straightening and blaster's and gear being prepared as their resolve strengthened, his Clone brother's becoming determined to fight as hard as they could until General Kenobi arrived. The slim chance of survival overpowering the likelihood of death.

"Then that is just what we will do trooper, Obi-wan is maybe an hour out so we need to hold until then." General Skywalker ordered.

Despite Help's own unease regarding the General, no one could deny that Skywalker was a charismatic leader and his self confidence was infectious, spreading through the men of Torrent company.

"Those Vulture droid's are gonna cause us havoc, we've got no anti-air so everyone keep out of the open, stay behind the pillar's and wall's! This courtyard's too small for the landing craft's so they'll have to deploy on the landing platform outside, only entrance into this courtyard is that archway there, it'll funnel them in!" Captain Rex ordered loudly to everyone, trying to find the most efficient way to hold back the oncoming droid horde until reinforcement's arrived.

_'It's just like Christophsis.'_ Help thought.

"Sir, yes Sir!" everyone shouted and then rushed off to find cover before the attack began in earnest.

Most took position's behind the tall pillar's and wall's that lined the courtyard closest to the monastery front door, the AT-TE had no choice but to stand just away from the center of the courtyard, exposed to potential bombing run's, and the General, Commander and Captain stood just in front of the monastery door. Help decided to stay by the Captain's side.

"General! I know that General Kenobi is already on his way but perhaps we should call him back and let him know what he'll be arriving to!" He suggested.

"Agreed! R2 send a transmission to Obi-wan, let him know that we're under attack and we need reinforcement now!" General Skywalker ordered the little astromech droid.

"Vulture's incoming!" Captain Rex shouted.

A small squadron of Vulture droid's screamed towards the courtyard and opened fire, the general and Commander deflecting the shot's away with their lightsaber's as they could, and his brother's ducked behind cover trying to avoid them. The Arial attack had barely ended before the first line of droid's began pouring through the archway into the courtyard.

"We've got spider's inbound!" A Clone shouted.

Almost as soon as the first spider droid came into view, Torrent company opened fire releasing wave after wave of blue plasma at them which was answered with an equal wave of red from the attacking force. The archway was serving it's purpose, funneling the droid's through a single tight spot, himself and his brother's a single point of focus aim at. Line after line of Super battle droid's and Spider droid's fell before inevitably, the enemies overwhelming number's managed to push through into the courtyard proper.

The Vulture droid's quickly circled back around and lined up to make another attack run, the little R2 unit barely managed to eject from the Jedi starfighter and roll away from it before it was destroyed by the strafe run. Some of his brother's started pushing forward toward's the archway in an attempt to maintain the bottleneck, including the men operating the walker, the top gun and forward cannon's proving effective at destroying clanker's.

For a moment Help thought that maybe, with the walker's aid, they could hold the courtyard for a little longer. That hope was dashed however when he saw a cluster of spider droid's turning their turret's toward's the AT-TE's cockpit.

_'Those men are toast if they don't bail out now.'_ He knew.

"Captain, the walker crew need's to fall back, those spider's are lining up!" He shouted to the Captain.

"That tank need's to hold the gate!" Was his reply.

Help was running over to the walker before the Captain had even finished speaking. These men we're going to die if they didn't fall back, and so despite the warning in his gut, he charged over the open battlefield toward's them. It was a wasted effort though because upon his arrival, the spider droid's opened fire hitting the cockpit of the walker, killing the driver instantly. The blast from the cockpit exploding struck him hard, carrying him off of his feet and throwing him several meter's away where he came to a stop sprawled on his back, his head ringing and his body limp.

"HELP NOOOO!" He distantly heard a voice shout over the ringing in his ear's.

He tried to move but his body wouldn't listen, his head felt too jumbled and dizzy to make an attempt at doing so, he just lay there in the courtyard, meter's away from the collapsed wreakage of the walker he had tried and failed to save, struggling to make everything stop spinning.

"Fall back! Everyone fall back!" He heard another voice shout over the din of battle and the slow fade of the ringing.

Help knew that this was his own fault, he'd felt in his gut that running over to the walker would end badly and he'd ignored it anyway, unable to standby as people died. He heard what he assumed was the blast door's of the monastery sealing shut followed by the sound of the droid army standing down.

_'Guess their smart enough to know that shooting at a blast door is going to get them no where.'_ Help thought in mild amusement.

He wasn't amused for long however as a hooded figure strode into the courtyard ominously. From what his shaky eye's and frazzled brain could tell, the figure was female. Thin waist and noticable bust, wide hip's that swayed a little with every step, and beneath the hood, a sharp chin and a set full, dark purple lip's. He was mesmerised by this shrouded women, and not in the way one should be when attacked by them.

_'Who are you?'_ He thought internally because his mouth still wouldn't move.

As if hearing his unspoken question, the hooded woman paused in her stride right beside him and turned her head to glare down at him with beautiful pale blue eye's. Her pupil's were like pinhole's, laser focused on their target, her skin was pale grey and marked with blue pattern's that decended from the corner's of her mouth toward's her chin.

_'Dathomiran. I think I remember reading about the Night sister's once' He thought groggily._

The woman continued to stare at his limp, prone form as if she could hear what he was trying and failing to say. Her scowl lessened ever so slightly when he thought about the Night sister's, leading him to believe that she could indeed hear what he was thinking.

_'Must be a Force thing I guess.'_ He thought nonchalauntly. He could swear that he saw the hooded beauties lip's qwerk into a small smirk in response.

_'There's a lot of horrible thing's you could see when you're knocking on death's door, I'll take a beautiful Dathomiran woman gladly.'_ He thought resigning himself to death at this woman's hand's.

It was hard to tell because of the shadow of her hood, but Help thought that he could see a flash of surprise followed by a light blush spreading across her shrouded cheek's before the hooded beauties scowl returned full force and she marched away.

_'I don't approve of leering at women, but watching her walk away is a damn fine sight too.'_ He thought. When she stumbled a bit and glanced back briefly over her shoulder, clearly having heard what he was thinking, he smirked a little, enjoying her catching her off guard.

Help tried his best to block her from hearing his thought's despite not really knowing how to or if it was even possible. He assumed since she just walked away and left him lying here that she wasn't going to kill him. He guessed that she thought he was going to bleed out on his own and so wasn't worth executing. Now he just needed to figure out what to do from here.

While he was busy trying to figure out what to do, the hooded woman had marched over to the monastery's blast door control's and was waiting for 2 droid's to get it open. Judging by the tell tale hum and crackle of a lightsabre igniting (this one more volatile sounding than the one's he'd heard the Jedi use.) and the sound of the something being slashed in half, he guessed that the she had gotten impatient and had chosen to cut her way through the lock instead.

_'Dathomiran, force sensitive, carries at least one lightsabre and not a friendly... going by Republic report's I can only assume that she must be the Sith assassin Asajj Ventress.'_ Help figured.

He routinely read Republic report's on his data pad and checked various news outlet's on the Holonet to try and keep up to date with the going's on in the galaxy. From his reading's he knew about most of the more note worthy figure's in the Galactic Republic and the CIS, Count Dooku and Asajj Ventress being high priority war criminal's.

However something was confusing him. In all of the report's he's read, Ventress is often called a plethora of degrading name's; Hairless harpy, Witch, etc. Help could agree that the thing's she had done are hienous, but he didn't understand the way that people attacked her. They focused on her physical appearance to belittle her but from what Help saw, she was beautiful. A criminal... But a beautiful one.

Coming out of his musing's, Help found that his head had finally stopped spinning and he was able to move once again. He performed a quick self check and found that his armour had done it's job and had taken the brunt of the explosion, his helmet's visor had shattered over his dominant eye rendering it useless, and his chest piece was still smoking. Luckily from what he could tell, he hadn't sustained any true injuries beside's a hard knock from the blast which had winded him.

He took a quick glance around the now mostly deserted courtyard to see if it was safe to stand, once he was sure he was clear, he rolled unsteadily to his knee's and looked around assessing his situation. His damaged visor was getting in the way so he removed his helmet and attached it to his belt.

_'I haven't taken the damned thing off since we landed on Christophsis.'_ He thought.

The breeze felt nice after being trapped in the stuffy confines of his helmet for so long. He knew that he could have taken it off before now, but he wasn't too proud to admit that he felt too self concious to do so. The batch of Clone's that he had travelled to Christophsis with were all familiar with his unique appearance, and so he didn't care about them seeing, however the men of the 501st were stranger's to him who would undoubtably ask question's.

Like all Jango Fett Clone's he possessed the musculature and bone structure as the man himself, however, he had some unique feature's which had developed over the course of his growth, and he wasn't particularly fond of people staring at him because of them.

Most Clone's with genetic mutation's possessed fairly common trait's, such as white hair instead of brown like Captain Rex, or blue eye's instead of brown. Help however had unique genetic varient's that, for a short while drew intense curiousity from the long neck's, but in the end they dismissed them as just more imperfection's in the Cloning process. Something which Help was happy about as he found the way the Kaminoan's studied him discomforting.

In his case his hair was pure black with not a single strand of brown mixed in, now this on it's own barely drew any attention, however it was his eye's that tended to bring him scrutiny. Help had heterochromia, meaning that his eye's were two different colour's, the left one being a calm sky blue, and the right one a deep blood red.

He didn't know what it was that caused him to be so different from his Clone brethren, but he did know that he was unique. He knew that whatever it was that made him different was the fault of the Kaminoan Cloner's, them being responsible for their creation and all.

His sixth sense, his strange appearance, and his near empathic abilities, all were proof of tampering by the long neck's. Help resolved to one day seek answer's, but for now he needed to focus on the situation at hand.

Sweeping his gaze over the area he assessed the situation to the best of his abilities.

aside from a hand full of patrolling battle droid's, the courtyard was empty. Ventress had entered the monastery with the bulk of her force's and Help could hear the rapidly dwindling sound of desperate battle coming from inside. He knew that meant that Captain Rex and his men had attempted to hold off the Sith assassin and were being descemated.

_'Who know's how many brother's i've just lost.'_ Help thought sorrowfully.

Mourning the now surely deceased would do no one any favour's right now and so he pushed his grief to one side and focused. He was one man on his own and he was unaware of General Skywalker and Commander Tano status. 

_'Break it down into managable step's... Step one, secure your own position.'_ He thought.

That was an easy enough task, the courtyard was already near empty and the few remaining droid's could easily be neutralised and hidden. Help quickly set about his task, regretfully using the death cries of his brother's and the destruction from inside to mask the sound of his shot's. Once the small team of droid's had been systematically isolated and destroyed, he dragged the bodies over to the downed AT-TE and stored them underneath it. After a moment's thought, he took all eight of their blaster's and piled them near one of the walker's leg's.

_'A stockpile might come in handy... Okay step two, sitrep, gather information on allies and enemies.'_ He continued.

Fortunately, Help's wrist comm was one of the few thing's apart from his blaster that wasn't damaged or destroyed by the explosion. He quickly keyed in the General's comm frequency and waited for a response.

"This is Skywalker, go ahead." He heard the General say.

"General this is Clone trooper Help, that blast earlier put me out of commission for a little while. I need a sitrep Sir." He said steadily.

"It's good to hear your up and about trooper, we had thought you were a goner, Rex was particularly distraught." The General replied almost sounding relieved.

"Sorry about the worry then General. I've secured the courtyard Sir but the enemy is still inside the monastery, I'm unaware of the Captain's status but from what I'm hearing it not good."

"Ahsoka and I managed to find a back door landing pad and are now trying to find a ship, but Rex and the men stayed behind to hold off the droid's, I haven't... Hold on Rex is hailing me right now." General Skywalker said before switching frequencies to answer the Captain.

_'The Jedi are busy searching for a way out and the Captain is now contacting the General. That mean's that either Rex and likely some of his boy's are alive and hiding somewhere, or they are dead and Ventress is using the Captain's comm link to gloat.'_ He thought.

"- That was Rex, but something was wrong with him. I think Ventress was using a mind trick on him." The General reported once he returned to their frequency.

"So the Captain is alive, but likely been taken prisoner?" He questioned.

"Most likely. We are not going to be able to get to you trooper, for now you are on your own. I suggest you try to find where Rex has been taken, and attempt to set him free." The General said.

"Yes Sir. Good luck."

"You too trooper. Skywalker out."

With that, the call ended leaving Help pondering where to go from here.

_'This courtyard is now empty so I have the advantage here. The General say's that they found a back door landing pad but were still looking for a ship, meaning that Ventress, her droid's, and whatever prisoner's she has must come back this way in order to leave because their ship's have all landed up here.'_ Help summised.

With a rough plan in mind, he set to work. The courtyard offered the best tactical advantage to him, a wide open space with spot's of cover that is already secure, so he decided to remain here and dig in to wait for the enemy to emerge from the monastery.

He gathered resourses; droid popper's from some dead brother's, a rocket launcher with a single shot from the downed walker, and a blaster carbine that still had it's ascension cable. While scavenging from the walker, he saw that the turret was still functional but the walker only had enough power left for 1 maybe 2 shot's, so he rather shodily rigged the turret to fire remotely at the push of a button from his comm link, figuring that at the very least it could serve as a distraction.

There was nothing else of worth that Help could see so using the carbine's ascension cable, he climbed one of the high wall's of the courtyard (remembering the advise that he gave to the LAAT pilot earlier and keeping the sun at his back.) he settled into a prone position with his droid popper's laidout near him for quick access, the blaster carbine by his side as a backup, and his long rifle set up ready to snipe some droid's.

_'And now we wait.'_

  
**Rex POV:**

  
Everything had gone south so fast. The enemies arrival had set him and his men heavily on the back foot, desperately trying to hold out long enough for General Kenobi to arrive with aid. For a short while they had held their own, the droid's being held back at the entry to the monastery's courtyard. But it didn't last, the attack run's combined with the increasing pressure at the archway had eventually managed to clear a path for the spider droid's to get a shot in at the walker, shattering their defence.

_'And killing Help.'_ He thought sadly.

The young Clone intrigued Rex and he was eager to see what kind of soldier he would become. The exploding walker put an to the strange Clone before he could become much of anything. Unfortunately Rex was fairly used to dealing with death at this point in his life, but that didn't mean that he didn't still feel the pain every time.

Almost as soon as Help had been enveloped by the explosion, Skywalker had ordered everyone to retreat inside, understanding that with the walker down their defences were on the verge of collapse. Once everyone was inside they had closed and locked the blast door's, and Skywalker and Commander Tano had gone off to search for another way out, reluctantly leaving himself and his brother's to hold the line.

_'A futile effort.'_ He thought.

Their number's could barely hold back the 2 landing craft worth of droid's for even a minute, but as soon as she had appeared, red blade's crackling and shrouded in darkness, he had known their fate. They were going to die. Asajj Ventress was well known for her ability to cut through resistance with almost laughable ease. 

The initial wave of droid's who had poured through the breached blast door's had been fired upon with desperate deadly efficiency, not enough to force a stalemate, but sufficient enough to slow their advance. When the seperatist assassin had entered the fray, she had cut a bloody swath through their meager defence. Good brother's he had fought beside in countless engagement's, thrown into wall's by the Force or cut near in half by her blade's. They had fallen within mere moment's either dead, unconscious or surrendered. From the 100 who had begun this mission, only 23 remained.

Following their crushing defeat at the hand's of Ventress, Rex had woken groggily from his unconscious state and seen an opportunity to eliminate her. Fate it seemed had other idea's, as when he squeezed the trigger for his blaster pistol, a random battle droid had stepped in the way, alerting her to his presense. She had used her abilities to choke him against the wall before questioning him about General Skywalker's location.

Rex was nothing if not a loyal soldier, and as expected he had refused to answer... But loyalty proved to be of little bother where the Force was concerned. She had invaded his mind with suggestion's, compelled him to move and speak at her will, something he had seen Jedi do before on weak minded fool's but was now being done to him. He couldn't help but feel violated.

She had compelled him to contact Skywalker using his personal comm link, and had made him speak like a droid reading monotonously from a line of code, asking where he was. Aside from his flat voice (which over comm link's can just be dismissed as bad connection.) her attempt might have worked were it not for a single word, one tiny slip up which he knew would clue Skywalker in that something was wrong.

He had managed to call him Anakin during the call.

Rex never called him Anakin, he had too much respect for his Jedi General to call him that, so when ever addressed, he was; General, General Skywalker, Skywalker, or Sir... Never Anakin. 

As expected, Skywalker had quickly cottoned on and had not answered him, irritating Ventress who then ordered the droid's to take the few survivor's prisoner. That led him to were he is now. Standing with his hand's behind his head next to his few similarly incapacitated brethren. Their weapon's had obviously been taken and they were to out numbered for them to make much of a difference anyway.

_'Look's like it's all down to you General.'_ He thought morosely, remembering that the whole point of this mission was to rescue Jabba's son.

Just as he was preparing to give up, he heard some light crackling coming from his comm link which, because his hand's were behind his head, was right beside his ear. Very carefully, he lowered the volume so that the droid's would not be able to hear anything, and accepted the call.

**"Oh Captain... Surrender is not a good look for you."** Came the lighthearted voice of Help.

"Help... Is that, is that really you?" He whispered trying to stay quiet despite his shock and disbelief.

**"I think so."** Help replied jokingly.

_'Cheeky bastard's still alive... But where the hell is he?'_ He thought.

**"Don't try to say anything else Captain, it's too risky right now, the droid's could hear you. Now, listen up, behind the rear-left leg of the walker is a stash of blaster's. Not a great selection, mostly E-5's but there is a DC-15 or two in there. There's about a dozen of them in total."** Help informed.

_'Ugh, E-5's are horrible weapon's, but they're better than nothing I suppose.'_

**"Now, take a peak up on top of the wall across from you. That's me."** Help said and when he subtly scanned the top of the courtyard wall, he did indeed see a helmetless Clone laying there looking down a blaster's sight's .

**"I've got some gear up here to help us out, my rifle, 3 droid popper's and a single rocket plus the launcher. Plus, I don't know if it will work or not, but the walker still had some juice in it when I checked so I tried to rig it to fire one last shot remotely. Might make a good distraction Sir."** Help reported.

_'Very nicely done lad. We might just be able to take some of these tin bastard's down with us.'_ He thought.

**"Timing is going to be crucial here Sir, we need to cause confusion to buy you and the boy's down there enough time to arm up and clear the space around the walker. That's probably your safest bet for cover."** Help recommended.

_'Agreed, the walker's still sturdy enough to shield us if we can get behind it properly.'_

**"If you look up to the sky now Sir, I believe General Kenobi has just arrived."** Help reported.

When he glanced to the sky he noticed that there was indeed an arial battle now underway, meaning that General Kenobi and the 212th had finally arrived.

**"The droid's have just deployed all of their fighter's and spider's to repel General Kenobi and the flyboy's, now's the time to act Sir. Turn your comm volume all the way up and I'll send some static your way, when the tinnie's come over to investigate, kindly relieve them of their weapon's."** Help ordered.

_'With pleasure. The lad give's order's like he was born to do it.'_ He thought.

Around him he could see that the remaining men of Torrent company had just about managed to overhear what Help was saying and, judging by the subtle shifting and tensing, they were all getting ready to fight back. Deciding to take one last look around the courtyard before everyting kicked off, he saw that the area was swarming with droid's. A pair of vulture's had not taken off and were instead deployed in sentry mode to look over the prisoner's. A hundred or so assorted battle droid's wandered about, and Rex was sure that there were more that he couldn't see. Until General Kenobi and Cody's men reached them, it would be the now 24 survivor's of Torrent company, against all of them.

_'Not good odd's, but I would rather die on my feet with a blaster in my hand's, than on my knee's with one in my face.'_ He thought, determined to fight.

Quickly fiddling with the button's on his comm link, he turned the volume up loud enough to draw attention, and waited for the static. He didn't have to wait long and as expected several B1 battle droid's came over to investigate.

"Hey! What was that? Be quiet prisoner's!" A battle droid said in it's annoying, nasaly voice.

"Come here and let me show you how it work's clanker!" He shouted before wrestling the blaster from one of the droid's metal hand's and opening fire.

Around him most of his brother's also took blaster's directly from their captor's, but a few ran for the walker and collected the weapon's that Help had stored there. Within moment's they were all armed once more and had managed to establish a tight perimeter around the destroyed walker that they were now taking cover behind. 

Droid's were firing upon them from all side's, forcing them to spread their focus across a 360 degree arc, severly limiting their ability to concentrate their fire. Just as he was beginning to think that they would be over run, Help's voice boomed out over the sound of battle.

"Clear the turret! Fire in the hole!" He shouted from atop the high wall, his Clone brother's rushed to clear the turret's muzzle and braced.

For a second the walker hummed weakly as if struggling to charge the shot and then fell silent. Their hope's plummeted having been praying that the walker would be able to fire just one last time. Just as his shoulder's began to sag in disappointment, the walker suddenly hummed violently before a large streak of explosive blue plasma burst from the smoking turret and struck the courtyard's archway causing it to crumble and fall, crushing a dozen droid's and block the entryway.

_'Yes! that took out a good number of them and now we shouldn't have to worry about anymore arriving'_ He thought, feeling his hope's rise once more.

The Clone's fought on with renewed vigour, scrapping droid's by the dozen, quickly thinning their number's. However they were still out numbered 3 to 1, half of the 24 survivor's having fallen over the course of the battle, and the 2 Vulture droid's had finally decided to get involved, moving to fire down upon them.

"Say cheese clanker!" He heard Help shout before a rocket sailed through the air and struck one of the Vulture's, leaving it a smoking heap of twisted metal.

With one of them already destroyed, the surviving Clone's were free to concentrate their fire on the last one while Help held back the remaining battle droid's by sniping them and hurling droid popper's.

Under the combined firepower of a dozen well trained and determined Clone's, the Vulture droid quickly fell and they shifted to aid Help in destroying the 30 or so remaining droid's.

"I'm out of grenade's Captain!" Help shouted down to him.

"Keep up the pressure lad's, we can do this!" He shouted back, almost able to feel his men's determination to win.

They fought hard, the droid's number's falling to no more that 14, but their number's had also suffered. What was 13 Clone's at last count was now 6 not including himself or Help, and worse still their charge cell's were running out, 1 brother even looking ready to charge out and fight with his fist's if he needed to. As the survivor's of Torrent company fired the last of their shot's, the remaining droid's in the courtyard still out numbered them and had charge remaining in their blaster's. As he began running through idea's quickly in his head, his comm link chimmed signalling Help trying to raise him. Given that Help had been shouting aloud to him during the battle, he assumed that he didn't want the droid's to overhear what he was about to say.

**"Captain, I'm guessing your charge cell's are dry?"** Help guessed.

"You would be correct." He answered.

**"I can see Larty's incoming, you just need to stall the clanker's until they arrive."** Help informed.

Rex agreed with that plan and so, after stopping one of his remaining brother's from charging out to fight with his bare fist's, he stood up atop the downed walker and was followed by his faithful brother's who trusted him to know what he was doing. He hoped their trust wasn't misplaced.

"Hold it right there clanker's, we've got you out numbered!" He ordered, pointing his empty blaster rifle threateningly at the dozen advancing droid's, his brother's following suit.

"Out numbered? Wait a minute, one, two, thr- AHHH!" One of the stupid B1's screamed as General Kenobi's starfighter flew overhead, firing down into the squad of droid's.

The General himself dropping down into the middle of them, quickly destroying the few that remained, finally clearing the courtyard. 

"Captain, where is Skywalker?" General Kenobi asked urgently after striding over to him.

"Unknown Sir, best guess is he's still in the castle." Rex replied, panting with exhaustion.

"Work with cody to clear up the rest of these droid's, this area may be clear but the rest of the monastery is not. I will go and find Anakin." The General ordered.

"Yes Sir!" Rex answered.

As the General rushed off into the castle proper, Cody and his men rappelled into the courtyard, ready to blast more droid's. Rex and the 6 survivor's grabbed fresh weapon's from the new arrival's and moved to aid them.

Before Christophsis Torrent company consisted of 144 of the finest Clone's from the 501st legion. Now after day's of battle from the siege of Christophsis to this current conflict on Teth, only 6 men beside's himself remained (Help not officially being a member of any company yet). Torrent company was devastated to near extinction, but they still had a job to do.

_'Ain't no rest for the weary eh.'_

  
**Help POV:**

  
General Kenobi and the 212th had arrived just in the nick of time, the handful of survivor's from torrent company living to fight another day. A victory, but one with a truely devastating cost.

Still perch atop the high wall's that surrounded the courtyard turned battle field, Help saw Captain Rex and his few remaining men move to assist Commander Cody, and General Kenobi run off into the the monastery, presumably to search for General Skywalker. As he watched the General disappear into the darkness, he felt a harsh pull in his gut begging him to follow. Remembering the Captain's scolding, he raised his comm link and hailed him.

"Hey Captain, you copy?" Help asked.

**"Go ahead Help."** Rex answered.

"You and Cody look like you can handle thing's out here Sir, I request permission to follow General Kenobi so I can keep an eye on him." He requested calmly.

**"This a 'Gut Feeling'?"** The captain questioned.

"Yes Sir."

**"Very well permission granted. Stay safe and keep us informed, Rex out."** The Captain ordered before ending the call.

As soon as he had recieved permission, Help gathered his remaining gear together (his long DC-15a and his last charge cell.) and ran along the wall toward's the castle. Once at the point where the wall met the front of the castle, Help climbed up onto the roof carefully and looked around until he found a skylight that led inside. Climbing in through the skylight, he found himself perch upon a walk way of sort's that looked down upon a dimly lit chamber that he assumed was for meditation. Creeping slowly and quietly through the shadow's, he eventualy found General Kenobi again, but this time he wasn't alone, he was instead locked in a fierce saber duel with the hooded beauty he had met earlier, Asajj Ventress.

The pair traded blow's back and forth, neither seeming to be able to get the better of their opponent. General Kenobi's single blade presenting a near impenetrable defence in the face of the twin bladed assault from Ventress. Blue and red clashing in a dance that might have been beautiful if not for the knowledge that a single misstep could find you also missing a limb.

Eventually Ventress lost her patience and decided to try a new tactic, spinning in a graceful circle she deftly removed her skirt, revealing her long, toned leg's, and threw it in the General's face. The General easily cut through the material and deflected her aggressive follow up slash.

"You'll have to do better than that my darling." General Kenobi said mockingly. Even though Help knew it was said as a taunt, something about it upset him.

It clearly irritated her too because she quickly swung her blade's again, locking one with the General's to block and using the other to disarm him with a flourish.

"well... Know I'm impressed." General Kenobi said light heartedly, crouching into an unarmed fighting stance now that he had lost his weapon.

The General rapidly retreated from Ventress's violent swing's, ducking and weaving to avoid being cleaved in two. However, he quickly found himself backed up against one of the many pillar's in the chamber, with one of the Dathomiran beauties red blade's near his throat.

"Now you die." He heard her speak for the first time, her voice was raspy in a way that could potential be seductive if it weren't for the anger in her tone.

Help knew that he needed to intervene, he couldn't just sit here and leave the General to die, so he smoothly raised his blaster and aimed down the sight's at her center of mass (which given his current position on the raised walk way was her back). Help's finger hovered over the trigger, ready to squeeze and fire a shot that would end the unsuspecting woman's life... But he couldn't do it, his finger felt heavy and lathargic. He knew that if he really tried to, he could fire if he wanted to, but to his surprise and shame, he didn't want to.

This woman was the enemy, she had killed more of his brother's than could be counted, and she was about to execute a Jedi General. But he couldn't kill her, it didn't feel right and the thought of the life fading from her sharp, pale blue eye's had his gut twisting in a way that made him nauseous. 

_'You know your golden rule Help, always trust your gut.'_ He reminded himself.

Finally accepting that he wouldn't kill her, Help needed to do something else. Ventress was still going to kill General Kenobi if he didn't act, so he needed to cause a distraction. With an quick shift he moved his aim to a spot just above the General's and Ventress's head's and gently squeezed the trigger. Blue plasma sailed through the air, flying true and striking the pillar just above their head's, raining dust and rubble down upon them.

"What the-!" Both the General and Ventress exclaimed, one in surprise and the other i annoyance.

"We've got to stop meeting like this General, this is the third time I've saved you now!" Help shouted down to them, seeing the General's face light up in recognition, having been told afterward's that he was the sniper who helped him on Christophsis.

"Surely not, this is only the second time!" The General shouted back, the light hearted banter serving as cover while he recovered his lightsaber.

"Nope! A droid nearly gave you a new hole to breath through before the retreat as well!" He replied.

"Oh... well you have my gratetude trooper!" General Kenobi shouted with a smirk.

During their playful discussion, Ventress looked on angrily, clearly incensed that she was being ignored for such a banal reason. Her temper quickly reached a boiling point and by the time they had finished their little chat, she yelled aloud as she slashed at the General viciously. Fortunately the General had been able to recover his weapon and was able to block the attack and push Ventress back a few step's.

"Shall we continue?" General Kenobi asked sarcastically, flourishing his blue blade.

"My pleasure." She replied.

The dance began again, the pair seemingly forgetting that he was there, slashes and parries were exchanged, the General's calm and composed while Ventress's were violent and angry. Truthfully neither of them had any reason to worry about him being there, he wouldn't kill either of them and would only intervene if they were about to kill each other. So he watched on as they fought, ready to step in should he need to.

He quickly contacted the Captain to let him know what was going on like he had promised, and asked him how thing's were going with the droid's. Apparently the remaining droid's at the monastery were putting up a bit of a fight and more droid's were advancing from the forest's down below. General Skywalker and Commander Tano had been unable to provided assistance as they flew off in an old junker, presumably heading for one of the cruiser's over head.

With nothing more to report he focused back on the duel going on down below, the pair were still exchanging blow's until General Kenobi turned and jumped, bouncing between two pillar's until he reached the same walk way he was on. Ventress followed him, however unlike the General, she cleared the distance in one powerful jump (must be a Force thing.) and flipped before landing graceful standing face to face with the General once more.

"We know of Dooku's plot to turn the /hutt's against us, it will not succeed." General kenobi stated.

"It will when the truth dies with you." Ventress rasped.

"Not gonna happen beautiful." Help said confidently. 

While the two had been focusing on each other, he had snuck around behind ventress and leveled his blaster at her back. He still had no intention of killing her, but the threat could still act as a deterrant none the less. 

Because of his lack of helmet he could see that his eye's had caught the two off guard, this being the first time either had really been able to see his face clearly. The General looked surprised and a little amused if the tiny grin was anything to go by, and Ventress just stared, her glare slowly softening and her own eye's going surprisingly vulnerable.

_'Beautiful.'_ He heard the voice of Ventress whisper in his head.

"Thank you." Help replied aloud, catching her by surprise and embarrassing her as she clearly didn't mean for him to hear that. 

Both of them didn't know what to think about the fact that they could hear each other's thought's, neither knew how or why they were able to in the first place, let alone with each other. The General just look confused about why he had said thank you, but seemed to shrug it off.

The vulnerability in Ventress's eye's quickly fade behind a wall of anger and she violently struck out, slicing his blaster in half and forcing him to back pedal to avoid being sliced himself. The General quickly intervened, clearly better suited to combat the lightsaber wielding woman. The two once again exchanged a series of strikes and paries until they entered a saber lock and glared into each other's eye's. While they were pushing, trying to overpower each other, Help rushed up behind Ventress and pushed his arm's up under her's and locked his hand's behind her head.

As soon as his hand's came into contact with the bare skin of her pale head, he was assaulted with a barrage of intense feeling's; incredible pain, sorrow, anger, loneliness, and quickly rising to the surface was the hunger someone starved for physical contact. It didn't take long for him to figure out that these feeling's belonged to Ventress, she was enjoying being held by him even though he was getting in her way. He felt a little bit of joy knowing that he could provide her with comfort, but he also felt great sadness wondering what had caused her so much pain. 

"Who hurt you?" He whispered gently after opening his eye's which wasn't aware had closed, seeing General Kenobi watching them both, stunned silent.

Ventress seemed to sag a little in his arm's, the weight of her emotion's pressing down on them both. He barely noticed when his hand's slipped from behind her head and instead settle on her belly, his arm's wrapped around her. 

"I-I, ..." Ventress mumbled meekly before she suddenly stiffened up, the vulnerability in her voice apparently shocking her out of her moment of weakness. 

Her head suddenly snapped back, striking him in the nose causing him to accidentaly loosen his grip. She immediately broke free and spun, kicking him to the ground. When he eventually looked up at her face he could see that she missed being held, just like he missed holding her. But what surprised him more were the tear track's that he quickly discovered were upon both of their cheek's.

_'We were crying?'_ He mentally questioned, knowing that Ventress might hear him.

_'A moment of weakness... nothing more.'_ She replied angrily.

Ventress seemed to remember that General Kenobi was watching all of this from behind them looking quite intrigued, and she quickly shifted her focus back onto him, charging at him with her blade's ignited. Her attack's were even more unstable now, their strange moment clearly having knocked her off balance. The General blocked her unpredictable and unstable slashes and thrust's fairly easily, but must have decided that he wanted a change of scenary as he leapt through a near by window into a thin bridge connecting the castle proper to a tall tower outside.

"You can't run!" Ventress hissed. She looked back at him for a moment, a brief flash of something cutting through the anger in her eye's before she followed after the General.

He also followed as well as he could, not able to jump through the window anywhere near as gracefully as the other two, and he too found him self on the bridge connecting the castle and the tower. 

Ventress had her back to him once again and was staring down the General until they both jerked a little in surprise.

"I feel it too, anakin is gone, you've failed Ventress." General Kenobi announced.

_'... Force thing.'_ Help thought once again.

Ventress was not happy, she lashed out at the General who calmly blocked and parried her attack's, seemingly not trying to attack her. Eventually he seized an opportunity and struck the connector that was holding her two lightsaber's together and disarmed her of one, sending it twirling high through the air behind her and down toward's him. The blade deactivated at some point and Help managed to catch the hilt as it fell, the sleek, curved weapon feeling comfortable in his hand.

Once again Help was hit by a wave of pain and sadness, this time from the lightsaber hilt that he had caught. He felt a desire to protect and care for the weapon and so, despite knowing that he should surrender it to General Kenobi, he quickly hid it under his chest piece, the hilt feeling warm against his heart. The General didn't seem to notice as he was too busy battling Ventress to care about where her stray lightsaber went.

_'Don't you worry, I'll look after you.'_ He thought, feeling weirdly protective of it.

"You're master will not be pleased." General Kenobi taunted.

"Jedi scum!" Ventress growled as she pressed a button on her wrist that began to flash red.

The traded a few more blow's before the General managed to pushed Ventress back and retake his defensive stance with a flourish.

"The Hutt is safe, there's no point in fighting any longer, we've won, lay down your weapon" General Kenobi ordered.

The light on Ventress's wrist flashed green and she quickly leapt off of the edge of the bridge, landing atop a Vulture droid. Help figured that the bracelet was a locator beacon of some sort. She flew off without another word leaving the General and himself standing there awkwardly, not quite knowing what to address first. Help spoke up first.

"As soon as I figure out what that was back there General, I will let you know." He said, referring to the wierd moment that he had shared with Ventress.

The General slowly turned to him with a teasing smirk upon his face.

"Yes I am most curious about that connection that you shared with her, it seemed to be a Force ability of some sort that she must have inadvertantly used on you. However something else about that exchange caught my attention." The General explained causing Help to release a small sigh of relief.

If he did have some kind of connection to the Force, he didn't really want anyone to know. He knew that it would only lead to an investigation, him being forced into the Jedi order as a learner of some sort as he understood the Jedi did with Force sensitive's, or worse, him being sent back to Kamino for decommisioning. The thought alone sent a chill up his spine.

"And what's that Sir?" He questioned.

"I do believe you called her 'Beautiful' trooper. Most intriguing" General Kenobi answered while stroking his beard with that kriffing grin on his face.

_'I'm not embarrassed about honesty.'_ He thought.

"Yes Sir. Fortunately I am a creature blessed with working eye's, I could see her quite clearly." He replied honestly, not feeling any shame.

"Yes you do, and some peculiar eye's they are." The General stated.

"So I've been told Sir, I'm afraid I can't explain them, you'll have to ask the Cloner's." Help said, actually quite enjoying this little back and forth with the General. Certainly much more than with General Skywalker.

"It's simply something that make's you, you. There is nothing to question." The general said putting him at ease. "Now come along, we'd best go and check on the men."

"Yes Sir!"

The rest of the mission wrapped up fairly smoothly after that. He and the General had rushed to assist Captain Rex and Commander Cody with dismantling the last of the droid force's which proved an easy task now that their commander was missing. Nearly everybody who saw him had something to say about his eye's which was to be expected. General Skywalker and Commander Tano had made it to Tatooine (Crashed into Tatooine.) and despite an encounter with Count Dooku, had managed to deliever Jabba's son to him alive and well. And lastly, rather shockingly, A Senator by the name of Padme Amidala (who Captain Rex informed him General Skywalker was 'close' with.) had discovered that Jabba's own uncle Ziro was working in collaberation with Dooku to kidnap his son, and was subsiquently arrested by the Senator herself with the aid of Commander Fox of the Coruscant guard (Apparantly the Senator is a deft hand with a blaster).

And now here they all stood, gathered outside Jabba's palace. The Republic having managed to secure the Hutt's allegience and crucial access to hyperspace lane's in the outer rim. The Jedi General's; Skywalker, Kenobi and Yoda congratulating each other on a successful mission. Captain Rex and Commander Tano seemingly both praising and fussing over each other, and Jabba himself looking on holding his son proudly.

_'Say what you will about the Hutt's, but the one is a good father.'_ Help thought.

Walking over to the Captain, Help thought it best to discuss a few thing's before they set off again for the next mission that would inevitably come.

"Sir, could we talk for a minute?" He asked trying to gently pry him away from the Torgruta Jedi.

"Of course. As far as I'm concerned Help, you're one of us." The captain said proudly, referring to the 501st legion.

"Thank you Sir, but I was wanting to talk to you about you recommending me for specialist training... and my punishment for insubordination on Teth." He explained.

"Ah I see. You do still want the recommendation don't you?" Rex asked.

"Absolutely Sir, in fact I was wondering how soon it could be done." He said eagerly.

"Good attitude lad. I'll send off the nessessary report's ASAP, I'll also ask the General to forward them, should speed the process along." The Captain explained.

"Thank you Sir" He said gratefully.

"About the punishment, I've been thinking about it and I have just the thing. Upon the completion of you advanced training and your return to active service, you are to be assign to a security detail guarding diplomat's for a while." Rex ordered with a slight smirk knowing how much Clone's generally hated politic's.

"... That's cruel Sir..." Help muttered dejectedly.

"I know, it's the perfect punishment." The Captain laughed good naturedly before turning back to the young Commander.

_'Ah well, I wonder where the Force will guide me next.'_ He thought having accepted that he was likely Force sensitive and was eager to learn more about what that meant. As he looked up into the star's swirling above Tatooine, he gently stroked the lightsaber hidden under his armour, almost able to feel it being soothed by him. Help couldn't help but wonder when he would see the beautiful Dathomiran again.

_'Until next time Ventress.'_ He thought with a soft smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will start following a time skip during which Help will go through his advanced training on Kamino. 
> 
> Please comment your thought's on this chapter and what you thought of my battle scene's. I'm still learning so please if you've got tip's let me read them.


	6. A challenging punishment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> S1 ep1"Ambush"
> 
> 7 month after the event's on Teth, we catch up with Help as he completes his punishment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone is interested, in the previous chapter's, Help sounded like all young Clone's in the Clone war's series. He now sound's like Boss from Star War's Republic Commando's, because I love that game.

**Help POV:**

  
Help stood silently on the bridge of a Consular-class Republic cruiser as it travelled through hyperspace, the blue swirl of the passing star's providing a beautiful backdrop as he allowed himself to get lost in memory, drawing his thought's back to how he came to be here.

The battle's of Christophsis and Teth felt to him like distant memories, but had in fact happened only half a year ago. A mere 7 month's had passed since his first deployment, and since then his life had changed more than he could have predicted.

After the Republic managed to secure an agreement with Jabba the Hutt, Captain Rex true to his word had written a glowing recommendation for him with the backing of General's Skywalker and Kenobi both, requesting that he be sent back to Kamino to receive specialist training. The request had been swiftly reviewed and approved, and within 2 week's he was onboard a ship bound for home.

Prior to landing at Tipoca city, Help had been expecting a Clone trooper escort who would show him to whichever barrack's they use to house the Sharpshooter trainee's. What he hadn't been expecting was for one of the Kaminoan cloner's themselves to personally welcome him and escort him to the training barrack's used for the Commando's.

When he had questioned the Kaminoan about this, he had been told that due to special circumstances, he had been approved to undergo rigorous training and become a Republic Commando himself.

Commando's were something a bit special, particularly amongst other Clone's. They were infiltration and sabotage specialist's, capable of all manner of operation's both on and behind enemy line's. In the eye's of some, a squad of Clone Commando's could practically win wars by themselves. Truly they were rivalled only by the ARC trooper's who's independence and ruthlessness turned them into one man armies.

ARC trooper's were something that most Clone's aspired to be, they trained as hard as they could to become one, however the solitary nature of the ARC's never appealed to Help, who far preferred the tightknit brotherhood of the Commando's.

A Republic Commando on his own is obviously superior to their more common brethren. Faster, stronger, more agile, and far more adaptable. Clone Commando's are encouraged to develop a capacity for independent thought above that of a standard Clone, whilst still being subject to indoctrination, becoming completely loyal to the Republic. This resulted in soldier's who are capable of acting independently of Jedi General's and still be able to complete high risk mission's.

Help was amazed that he was being given the chance to become one of them, to be part of a Clone Commando squad was an exciting prospect. When his excitement had died down enough he had asked the Cloner what exactly these 'special circumstance's' were. He was told that because of his young age, the Captain's recommendation, and the Republic's own demand's for more elite soldier's, he was an prime candidate to undergo the Commando's gruelling training program.

At the time his mind still had the sponge like abilities of a child's, meaning that he still had a few month's before maturity where he could receive additional flash training and soak up more advanced skill's with ease. His body was still maturing as well which allowed the Kaminoan's some wiggle room to play with his development; injection's, booster's and supplement's to make his bone's harder, his muscle's stronger, and his mind sharper. 

By the time the Cloner had finished explaining all of this to him, they had arrived at the barrack's and he was shown to his new bunk. The other men in the room were pure blood Commando's just shy of finishing their own training and being deployed to active service, all of them were larger than him and had pod brother's, there born and raised squad member's. They had made for an intimidating sight.

For the next 6 month's he was subjected to routine injection's and evaluation's. He sat for hour's every day at a holo terminal for flash training covering a wide array of subject's such as strategy, splicing, explosive's, weapon maintenance for the DC-17m, sabotage, and many other thing's. He ate alone for the first 3 month's, the other Commando's preferring the company of their pod brother's to the 'Reg' (regular clone). He researched the Force and those who study it as best he could using the Holonet, and he gave his all during training exercise's and battle simulation's.

Over the course of his training, Help had excelled in a few core subject's; marksmanship, strategy, and command being the most notable. The last one coming as quite the surprise especially due to the fact that he didn't actually have a squad to command at the time, but according to his test result's he possessed all the vital trait's of a squad leader.

When he had raised the issue of his squad with the overseer's (Kaminoan's and various bounty hunter's hired to instruct them) he had been granted permission to assemble a squad from the small pool of Commando's who either didn't have squad's of their own, or were too volatile to work with other's. Over the next month he had found his men, 3 Clone brother's who's loyalty he had managed to earn and he spent the remainder of their training working to strengthen their bond, one which Clone Commando's usually develop from birth. 

Once his training was complete and his new squad deemed fit for active service, he had waited to receive his marching order's. It didn't take long and when they came, he quickly remembered the promised punishment that Captain Rex had imposed upon him, escort duty for a negotiator.

He had opted to spare his new squad mate's his suffering and had ordered them to remain on Kamino until he had completed this assignment. It was a punishment for him and him alone... They had agreed quite quickly.

And so here he was, a recently promoted sergeant, the proud leader of a newly formed squad of elite Clone Commando's, and he was on guard duty. Now, Help was no battle maniac like some of his brother's were, he actually very much enjoyed the dream of a quiet peaceful life, but baby sitting negotiation's was enough to drive most men mad with boredom.

Although he supposed that there were worse job's in the GAR. For his punishment he had the good fortune of being assigned as extra security for General Yoda, the Grandmaster of the Jedi order. Help was very much looking forward to asking the ancient Jedi some question's and soaking up some of his century's of wisdom.

In regard's to the assignment itself, the Republic were currently in talk's with the people of Toydaria and were seeking permission to construct a supply station in their system, this supply station would be vital to the war effort and would provide much needed aid to the people of Ryloth. Jedi Master Yoda had personally accepted the responsibility of negotiating an alliance and so here they were. 

They were currently on route to a neutral moon to attend a private meeting with King Kutuunko of Toydaria and were set to arrive shortly. He was so deep in thought that he barely noticed General Yoda when he walked up beside him. 

"Lost in thought you are, but troubled your mind is not." The General stated.

"Does the Force tell you this General?" Help asked in response, his voice a deep, warm growl ever since he was injured during his recent training.

"Need the Force to tell me what is plain to see, I do not" General Yoda said sounding slightly amused.

Help shifted slightly to face Yoda properly, he decided that now was as good a time as any to pick the old man's mind a bit.

"I see. Master Yoda, would you mind sating a Clone's curiosity for a moment?" He asked.

"Encourage it I do, matter not should it who's curiosity it is." Master Yoda replied happily.

"A refreshing mind set Sir, most dismiss Clone's as nothing more than living droid's, unworthy of their time." Help said.

"Yes, cruel some can be, very cruel." Master Yoda said with a life time of sorrow and weariness in his voice.

"Anyway Sir, I was wondering if perhaps you could explain to me what exactly the Force is and why the Jedi worship it like they do." He inquired, trying to move the topic back to something more pleasant.

General Yoda's ear's perked up with what he guessed was intrigue and perhaps enthusiasm. 

_'Maybe, because of the war, he relishes any chance he can get to teach rather than fight'_ Help thought.

"Indeed curious you are, ask these question's no Clone before you has. Refreshing it is." Master Yoda said before he began to impart his wisdom to him. "The Force, exist in everything it does. An energy field created by all living thing's, it's energy surround's us, bind's us. In the Force, luminous being's are we, not this crude matter. A will it has, a balance it seeks. To interpret the will of the Force, the life's mission of a Jedi is."

Help took a moment to digest the ancient Jedi Master's word's before replying.

"So the Force is the connection, the link between all thing's, something invisible but that we see all around us everyday." He questioned thinking about everything from the rock's on the ground to the star's in space. Help like to think that he had a good ability to grasp and understand new thing's, even those that most would reject as nonsense or magic.

"Yes, the connection, bind the galaxy together the Force does." Master Yoda answered looking very happy with his understanding.

"So... When you use the Force to move thing's, to lift great weight's, what you're really doing is using the Force to manipulate it's connection to the galaxy around it and adjust the way the Force bind's it?" Help asked.

"Through the Force, many gift's do a Jedi receive. When understand the Force you do, see it's work all around you, you will." Master Yoda said wisely.

_'Fascinating.'_ Was all Help could think.

With a sincere 'thank you' they both turned and continued to watch the star's fly by from the blue tunnel of hyperspace. Eventually their peace was disturbed by the ship's captain reporting that they were about to drop out of lightspeed. 

As promised, they soon felt the slight lurch that always came with dropping out of hyperspace and saw the star's come into focus. Ahead of them was the moon where the meeting was to be held. One of the 3 Clone officer's was trying to establish communication's with King Kutuunko when Help felt a clenching in his gut.

_'A warning, but what for?'_ He questioned, needing more information.

"General, the Toydarian's beacon is active on the moon, but all of our transmission's are being jammed." The Officer reported as General Yoda hobbled over.

_'Our communication's are being cut off, most likely so we can't call for help.'_ Help figured.

Help quickly marched over to the General's side and gave his recommendation's for what he predicted to be a Separatist ambush. He could see the other Clone's awe and slight fear as he came closer. Since his training and the genetic tampering that the Kaminoan's had done to him, he had packed on more muscle than most Clone Trooper's could, that coupled with his new Katarn class armour made for an intimidating sight.

His armour was solid green, but he had detailed it by painting orange bar's and stripes all over it on every section, including two stripes descending from the corners of the helmet's mouth piece. The blue glow of his visor must have looked quite ominous, he had not taken his armour off for very long since receiving it, determined to get used to it quickly.

"Captain, I suggest you raise the deflector shield's and chart a course for the nearest Republic fleet, I believe we are about to have company." He said calmly, trying not to intimidate them which was especially difficult now because of his scarred vocal cord's.

The two pilot's looked like they wanted to do as he said, but the Captain was uncertainly towards the General.

"Follow the Sergeant's suggestion's you should, into a trap I believe we have fallen." Master Yoda said.

The crew quickly rushed to obey and no sooner had the Navi computer calculated a route and the deflector shield's finished cycling, did a pair of CIS Munificent class frigate's drop out of hyperspace right in front of them. The two far larger ship's soon opened fire and were it not for the shield's, they'd have already been scrapped. The pilot's were preparing to fire back when Help chose to speak up again.

"Don't bother firing on them, they'll just see it as a challenge and hit us harder, focus on making the jump to the fleet. We'll need a cruiser to take them down" He ordered.

"Too late it is, sprung is the trap." General Yoda said calmly.

"We need to get you to safety General." The ship's Captain added.

"Retreat you must, on the moon below is my mission, there I must go." The General said in reply.

"I've been assigned to guard you Master Yoda and escort you to the meeting point, I don't intend to fail my first mission as a Commando. We can ride one of the escape pod's down to the moon's surface." He suggested receiving approval from Master Yoda and incredulity from everyone else.

"Quickly now, reach the surface we must." Master Yoda said turning and walking towards the escape pod's followed by Lieutenant Thire, Jek and Rhy's of the Coruscant guard who he had met the day before. After securing all of his gear, Help also followed the diminutive Jedi Master.

"In an escape pod Sir! The enemy will fire at anything we launch!" The Captain said.

"Then launch all of them you will." Master Yoda chuckled cheekily.

The five of them soon loaded up into an escape pod and strapped themselves in, ready to make a rough landing. General Yoda sat in a meditative position and looked completely at ease with what was going on, while Lieutenant Thire and the other 2 Clone's besides himself looked concerned and on edge. Help oddly didn't feel much worry, since speaking to Master Yoda about the Force, he decided to test putting his trust in the will of the Force.

_'Not like there's much I can do while falling through turbo laser fire in an escape pod so why not.'_ He thought seeing no harm in having a little faith.

The pod lurched as it was launched towards the remote moon, and through the view port Help watched as one by one the other pod's were destroyed. By some stoke of luck (or by the will of the Force.) their pod managed to get out of range of the enemy's weapon's and entered the moon's atmosphere.

"That was a close one!" Rhy's said with no small amount of relief.

"General, I think we're out of range." Lieutenant Thire reported.

"Agree I do, but entering another trap, we are." General Yoda stated making the 3 Clone trooper's look around at each other questioningly.

"Sir, I think that whoever arranged this ambush is currently on this moon with King Kutuunko. It's also quite clear that whoever it is has some understanding of military tactic's and procedure." Help said.

"Agree with you I do Sergeant, a political attack this was. Trying to gain the allegiance of Toydaria, the Separatist's are." General Yoda said.

As the escape pod continued to hurtle towards the ground, Help stared out of the viewport and tried to spot any noteworthy landmark's for later use.

"Forgive me Sergeant, but I don't understand how you could possibly know about the assailant being with the King." Thire said. 

"Our comm's were being jammed even before those frigate's arrived and attacked us, so either we have been carrying a traitor on board, or the signal jammer is here on this moon." Help explained.

The 3 Clone guardsmen paused to think thing's over more deeply while Help continued to watch their descent. As the moon's surface rose up to meet them, Help called out for everyone to brace for impact.

"Brace yourselves, we're approaching a good landing strip but it's still going to be rough." He ordered.

Everyone quickly checked their strap's and held on tight. Moment's later the pod rattled, sparked, crashed and rolled as they carved a scar into the moon's picturesque surface.

Once he was sure that they had come to a complete stop, Help unstrapped himself and stood to check on everyone.

"General Yoda, you okay?" He asked. "Lieutenant, Trooper's, sound off."

"Well I am Sergeant. Familiar with these landing's I have become" Yoda answered humorously.

"I'll live Sergeant." Thire said. 

"All good Sir." Answered Jek and Rhy's.

"Excellent. Somebody pop the hatch." Help ordered.

Lieutenant Thire being the closest to the door control's opened the hatch and the pod's inhabitant's quickly filed out, happy to be on solid ground again, breathing clean air. The stale recycled air on ship's was something almost all Clone's were used to, but that didn't make it anymore pleasant.

Stepping outside, his helmet quickly adjusted to the light and Help took a moment to simple be, breathing in deeply with closed eye's. After a moment he looked around to see what his companion's were doing. 

Jek and Rhy's were gathering and preparing weapon's and ration's from the pod, clearly anticipating a fight. Lieutenant Thire mean while was sweeping his gaze over their surrounding's, assessing the terrain.

_'Good idea, we're gonna be in for a bit of a trek.'_ Help thought.

Master Yoda was just staring off into the distance calmly, a contented smile on his withered old face.

"Beautiful this moon is." The General said.

"Agreed Sir, so many world's are before the war reaches them." Help replied sombrely.

While they both stood side by side soaking up the peace and serenity of this life filled, remote moon, Help could feel a subtle and somewhat familiar pull in his gut. The lightsaber he carried hidden in the pouch over his heart also warmed and pulsed. He could guess at the cause.

_'It's her. Ventress is the one who has been jamming our comm's.'_ Help knew.

Over the last few month's Help had managed to somewhat sharpen his passive ability to feel with the Force. Understanding what he was feeling and how to feel it came amazingly easy to him, however a complete lack of formal training made further experimentation with the Force a bit of a guessing game.

The lightsaber he had kept following General Kenobi and Ventress's fight on Teth was the thing he connected to most easily. It felt like a lightning rod to him, the Force and his own emotion's were drawn to and absorbed by it. 

From what little information he was able to gather, he figured that somehow he had managed to form a bond with the crystal that act's as the heart of the weapon. The pain and sorrow that Ventress had flooded it with were still very present, but over the 7 month's it has been in his care, the sharp edge's had somewhat smoothed, the crystal no longer drowning in it's grief but still consumed by it. He had tried to convey his understanding and care as best he could, and over time the crystal had responded to him, like a tentative hand reaching out as if afraid to hope that someone will take it. 

Right now the weapon was calling out, clearly recognising the presence of it's former master. It's loyalty had shifted, but it had not forgotten the pain she poured into it.

_'This should be interesting.'_ Help thought.

He had caught himself thinking about the beautiful Dathomiran a few time's since he had first met her. Strangely enough, despite being an enemy of the Republic, he looked forward to seeing her again.

"Look at the size of that thing!" Someone shouted, he assumed that it was either Jek or Rhy's. "There's got to be a whole battalion in there!".

Looking up he saw what they were talking about. A droid landing craft had just flown overhead and was headed directly for the meeting point. For King Kutuunko and where he assumed Ventress was.

"Sep landing craft. Could be tank's, B1's, SBD's, Roller's... Or all of the above." He informed prompting worried look's from the member's of the Coruscant guard.

_'Don't get much action guarding senator's I guess.'_ He thought.

"General, I've made contact with the King." Lieutenant reported.

"Very good Lieutenant, speak to him now I will." General Yoda ordered.

The Lieutenant did as ordered and walked over to the small Jedi. He raised his holo communicator and crouched down so that Yoda could address the Toydarian King properly. After a few chime's, the transmission connected and a regally dressed Toydarian appeared standing beside Dooku's assassin.

"Master Yoda would like to speak to you Sir" Thire said and then turned the communicator to face the General.

"An honour it is to meet you Your Highness, Master Yoda of the Jedi council this is." Yoda said.

**"Master Jedi, I thought perhaps Count Dooku had frightened you off."** The Toydarian King said.

"Delayed have I been, but not too far away am I now." Yoda informed. "Unaware I was, Dooku's assassin was invited to our meeting."

**"The Count took it upon himself to invite her, he assures me that in this time of war, his droid's can offer my world greater security than your Jedi can."** The King explained.

"Hmm, a matter of debate that is." Yoda chuckled.

For the first time since the transmission began, Ventress spoke up from beside King Kutuunko. Her rasping voice sounded just as sensual and seductive to Help as when he had first heard it on Teth.

**"Perhaps Your Majesty would prefer more than word's."** She purred.

_'Not a fan of where this is going.'_ Help thought.

**"What did exactly did you have in mind?"** King Kutuunko asked intrigued.

**"If Yoda is indeed the Jedi warrior you believe he is, let him prove it."** She answered. **"Allow me to send my best troop's to capture him. If he escape's, join the Republic. But should my droid's defeat Yoda, consider an alliance with the Separatist's."**

_'A live fire demonstration to see which side is better, one where the number's lean heavily in her favour. Clever.'_ Help thought. Despite the likelihood of death by army of battle droid's, he was still able to appreciate her ability to turn a negotiation into a competition.

**"I did not request Master Yoda's presence's here to test him in battle!"** King Kutuunko said sounding unimpressed and insulted.

"Accept the challenge I do Your Highness, arrive by nightfall, I will." General Yoda stated confidently.

With that said, the transmission ended and the game began. They now had to reach the King by nightfall, alive, by going through an entire battalion of battle droid's.

Help could see Lieutenant Thire and his men were both worried and resigned to their inevitable defeat. The General however had a cheeky grin on his face, a giggly confidence that nothing would go wrong. Strangely enough, Help had a feeling that he was right. His Clone brother's though were in need of a quick confidence boost, one which he was happy to provide.

"3 Clone trooper's, a Commando, and a little old man... Those cold, heartless, tin target's don't stand a chance".

  
**Thire POV:**

  
The Commando's word's were clear and powerful, bragging in a way that came across not as cocky, but more like he had just stated an immutable fact. Like saying that sun's are hot and space is cold, the Commando was sure that they would succeed. The effect on morale was immediate, Jek and Rhy's stood a little taller, proudly snapping to attention. Hell Thire could feel his own spine wanting to straighten.

_'The man's got a leader's presence's to him, I'll give him that.'_ He thought.

As a Lieutenant in the Coruscant guard, Thire and his men hadn't exactly seen a lot of action outside of political manoeuvring, public demonstration's, and a few rare attack's on senator's. Seeing a Commando, let alone getting the chance to fight droid's side by side with one was an exciting thought.

Thire didn't really know a lot about Clone Commando's, few regular Trooper's did, but he did know what people claimed about them. Anti social, ruthless, efficient. He had heard that Commando's were fiercely loyal to their squad's, and that the only thing they were more loyal to was the Republic.

Sergeant Help however seemed a different sort. despite being a noticeably larger build than himself (a very obvious thing considering almost all Clone's were carbon copies of each other.) which he had to admit was slightly intimidating, he had not once in the short time they'd worked together seen the man act in an aggressive or standoffish manner.

In fact, the Sergeant held quite true to his chosen name. At this very moment, the Commando was busy making sure that Jek and Rhy's had everything that they would need for the mission ahead. At least as best he could prepare them from the supplies that were available in the escape pod.

Whenever either of the two seemed unsure of what they'd need, or appeared to be struggling with equipment, the Sergeant would take a moment to help them and teach them what to do. It was a heart warming sight to see the larger Clone looking after his more common brethren, even more so because he didn't mock or belittle while doing so.

When he looked at the gear the Commando was carrying, Thire felt a little more confident that they could handle the inevitable fight they had on their hand's. His Katarn class armour, far more protective and functional than the standard issue phase 1 stuff most Clone's were issued with, was painted olive green and decorated with orange detailing. Various bar's and stripes covered the arm's and leg's, a downwards pointing triangle from the neck to the chest, a solid orange bar from front to back over the top of the helmet, and lastly 2 thin but prominent stripes descending from the corner's of the helmet's mouth all the way down to the chin.

His belt was covered in pouches and clip's containing spare charge cell's, explosive's, emergency field dressing's for wound's, and a few other useful item's. He also had another pouch clipped to his armour directly over his heart. The pouch was incredibly sturdy looking, fastened securely to his armour as if he feared losing it. It was black in colour, just under a foot long and curved, it was firmly sealed as well. Thire had no idea what was inside that pouch, but given how he was the Sergeant reach up and rest his hand over it gently, he assumed that it was incredible precious and personal to him.

As for weapon's, the Commando had a DC-15s blaster pistol strapped to his right thigh guard, easily within reach. He also had what looked to be a collapsible vibro sword clipped to the small of his back. And of course, the weapon of choice for all Republic Commando's, a DC-17m modular blaster rifle which he was currently looking over for damage's and loading with a fresh charge cell.

_'That's a good idea, Republic weapon's are built to take a bit of a beating but who knows what damage a crash landing like that might have caused.'_ Thire thought, starting check his own weapon over. He was satisfied to see that everything appeared to be fine.

"If the clanker's want a fight, we'll give 'em one." Jek boasted, banging a clattering about inside the pod before he walked out, a rocket launcher slung over his back and a rotary cannon hefted in his arm's.

"Yes we will, but you won't be fighting them all on your own, so share the load trooper." The Commando ordered kindly. "All of that gear is gonna weigh you down, you'll tire yourself out too quickly. Speed and stamina are going to be crucial to us here." Thire just realised that the Sergeant's voice was deeper and warmer than most Clone's were. He resolved to ask him about it later.

"Yes, carry only what you must. Too much weight, slow you down it will." General Yoda said in his weird backwards way. "Destroy Ventress, your weapon's will not."

_'Strange little creature.'_ Thire thought. _'They may not destroy her, but they will destroy droid's.'_

He was Jek rather reluctantly hand the rocket launcher over to Rhy's who slung it over his own back before both of them turned to him. They appeared to have finished getting ready and were now waiting for order's. 

The General was apparently ready to goes as well because he began walking off, heading west. This confused him because the meeting point was to the north, a detail that he reminded the old Jedi of.

"Uhh, Sir, the rendezvous point is that way." He said while pointing north. The General stopped walking and spoke back over his shoulder.

"As is our enemy. To reach our goal, a straight path we will not follow."

_'That... Actually make's sense.'_ Thire thought.

"Come lieutenant, hurry we must." The General ordered, continuing to walk of into the wild foliage.

"Alright, let's move it boy's!" Thire commanded, quickly following after the little Jedi.

Not long into their trek through the seemingly endless plant life of the moon, the Commando walked up alongside him and began to speak.

"Lieutenant, It's a forgone conclusion that we are guaranteed to encounter droid's, they are going to be hunting for the General after all." The Sergeant said to which he nodded. "Getting spotted mean's combat, and combat mean's chaos. Confusion and panic can get the better of almost anyone when the plasma start's flying, and when it does, someone need's to take control. Give clear and concise command's. Men cling to simple, easy to follow command's when they don't know what to do."

_'Is he trying to tell me that he's taking command.'_ Thire thought warily. Technically speaking Thire was a higher rank than the Commando, but maybe the man didn't care about rank's.

"I know what you're thinking Lieutenant and you have nothing to worry about. I respect that you are a higher rank than me, and I also know that those 2 are going to be looking to you for order's." Sergeant Help continued. "It good that they will be looking to you, however, as Captain Rex of the 501st often say's 'Experience outranks everything'. So while you're busy looking after them, don't be afraid to look to me for help if you need it. I've got combat experience from 2 separate battle's and advanced training under my belt, I can help."

"I... Thank you Sergeant. I'll be sure to heed any advise you give." Thire said, honestly stunned that the larger man was not only respecting rank, but even going so far as to offer to help him.

"Let's cut the rank's Vode, just call me Help." Help said.

"Very well, call me Thire then." He replied.

The Commando nodded in agreement and the group continued to trek on, mostly in silence. At some point General Yoda had jumped on Help's back (The man having offered to carry the small Jedi.) and was now sitting quite comfortably atop his armour's built in backpack. Help gave no sign that he even noticed the additional weight.

Thire decided that since they had a moment, he wanted to speak some more to the Commando.

"Help, you mentioned previous combat experience. 2 battle's?" He asked.

"Correct, I was deployed to Christophsis 7 month's ago. I had barely finished my basic training when me and a batch of other Shinie's were rushed out there, the 501st and the 212th had been taking a beating and they were in desperate need of relief. We were all that was immediately available." Help explained. "A hell of a first fight later, General Yoda here arrived with another battalion and relieved us. Didn't get to rest long though. Jabba the Hutt's son got kidnapped and the 501st and I were sent off to Teth to rescue him. Fought Ventress and her tin soldier's there as well, so I've already got some experience with her."

_'Damn, that's a hell of a first deployment for a Shinie... Wait a minute, he was a regular Shinie 7 month's ago, so how the hell is he a Commando Sergeant now?'_ Thire questioned, unknowingly out loud.

"Somehow I'd managed to impress Captain Rex and his Jedi General. General's Skywalker and Kenobi put in a good word for me at the Captain's request, and 2 week's after everything was wrapped up with the Hutt, I was back on a ship headed for Kamino." Help explained. "I thought that I was going to be getting trained to be a sniper. Imagine my surprise when one of the long neck's came and carted me off to the Commando training barrack's."

"Yeah, I bet that was a shock." Thire replied, shocked himself at the Commando's story. "So what was the training like?"

The Sergeant chuckled a little beside him before he answered, whether the question amused him or he was remembering, he didn't know.

"The Kaminoan's injected me with thing's, calcifier's to strengthen my bone's and various protein cocktail's for muscle growth and improved cognitive function. 6 month's of that on top of countless drill's and simulation's, I got stronger, my sight became clearer, my mind faster... At time's I wonder if I can smell further too haha." Help laughed. "In truth unless you are born and bred to be a Commando from day one, you can never truly become one. To a lot of other Commando's, I'm still just a reg. But I'm better than I was, and I've got my squad, my brother's. That's all that really matter's to me."

Thire could only nod in response. He was well aware that some branches of the GAR tended to be quite elitist, believing that outsider's could never belong in their rank's. But hearing that Help was content simply having his squad by his side was nice to hear.

"The training itself was a grind. They told me that, because I was still young enough, I could still learn a lot through flash training. Sat at terminal's for hour's everyday. When I wasn't doing that, they made us run live fire combat simulation's and run drill's under hired instructor's." Help said. "In case you were wondering why my voice is so different to yours, the answer is smoke inhalation. Another squad's combat sim went sideways and I rushed in without my helmet on, and smoke scarred my vocal cord's."

Thire just shook his head in amazement and the group walked on in silence for a few minute's. 

"Did anyone manage too sync their Chrono's to this moon's solar cycle?" Help asked. Thire, Jek and Rhy's all checked and then cursed as they realised that they had not.

"Need it, you will not. Simply go by the sun we will." General Yoda said from his position upon Help's back.

"That work's." The Sergeant replied, not sounding phased either way.

Their small group continued on for a short while longer. Jek and Rhy's were on high alert, twitching at every little noise, clearly on edge due to lack of combat experience. General Yoda and Help chatted away happily between themselves, seemingly uncaring of the danger they were currently in. 

The two spoke of peculiar topic's. They talked about how amazing the galaxy is, how beautiful some planet's were, and rather oddly they spoke deeply about the Jedi, the mysterious 'Force' that they used, and various form's of meditation.

_'Help is a very strange Clone.'_ Thire concluded, finding it incredible strange that a Clone would care enough about the Jedi and their magic to ask about it. He was soon drawn from his thought's.

"Sir! Up ahead!" Rhy's whisper-shouted, pointing at something in the distance and coming to a stop, the rest of the group following suit.

Approximately 2 click's ahead, a column of battle droid's trailed behind a trio of tank's, marching through the tree's and plant's towards them in lockstep. The dense plant life and rock's were forcing the advancing enemy to tighten their formation, the 3 tank's at the front beginning to collide and scrape together.

The tank operator's must have spotted them crouching in the distance as they abruptly opened fire, large bolt's of red flying towards them and exploding, throwing up great chunk's of rock and other debris just short of their position. 

Jek, Rhy's and himself prepared for combat, shouldering blaster's and taking aim. Help and General Yoda however simply stood there, side by side, calm and relaxed. Neither even seemed to flinch at the nearby explosion's.

"At ease be my friend's, within range we are not." The General ordered calmly.

Thire looked quickly to Help and upon seeing him nod, he relaxed as best he could. Jek and Rhy's also started to relax, following his lead.

The droid tank's continued to shell the land in front of them, all the while moving closer and closer. At least they did until they suddenly drew to a halt and stopped firing. Lowering the bino attachment on his helmet, he looked closer and saw the yellow painted droid commander yelling at the 2 green painted tank operator's.

_'Their arguing about something.'_ He observed. The yellow one looked to be ordering two green one's to wait, when one of the green one's suddenly drove forward and was flung from his position atop the tank. Evidently the yellow one thought that the tank's wouldn't fit through the gap and was proven right.

_'The great droid army.'_ Thire thought, astonished at the stupidity of droid's. He heard Help chuckle from beside him as he also watched on.

"Their tank's are too big to follow us." The Sergeant reported despite knowing that everyone could already see that.

"See, see. Size is not everything hmm." General Yoda chuckled. "Smaller in number are we, but larger in mind."

The General giggled to himself before rushing off in the back the way they had come, in the opposite direction of the enemy. Jek and Rhy's turned to him and spoke.

"Does eh... Does anyone know what the General is talking about?" Jek asked. A shadow covered the three crouching Trooper's and Help spoke up from behind him.

"He mean's that we have something that those droid's will never have. Clone's may look the same, but we are not droid's. We can think for ourselves. We can think on our feet and adapt in way's pre-programmed machine's can't." The Commando explained.

"He's right boy's, they may outnumber us, but we can out smart them." Thire said confidently. He had also struggled to understand what the old Jedi was trying to say, but apparently Help did and once he had explained it to them, Thire agreed.

"Sir, yes Sir!" His men barked eagerly.

"Thire, we'd best get after the General." Help recommended, "For a little old creature he sure can move fast when he want's to."

With a nod to the Sergeant and an order to his men, the four of them rushed off after the General. They managed to catch up to him fairly quickly and followed close behind him. Glancing back over his shoulder using his bino's, Thire saw battle droid's gaining on them on foot.

"Sir, I can see 2 droid patrol's approaching on foot." He reported.

"Now is the time, to face our enemy Lieutenant." General Yoda announced. "Ambush them, we will."

"We'll take the south side of the path and flank them." He replied.

"I'll take the north side. Let them pass between us and reach Master Yoda a hundred yard's east. Once they've cleared us, we hit them from behind." Help suggested.

"Sound's good, let's move!" Thire ordered, receiving nod's in response.

General Yoda quickly ran off heading east to act as bait for the droid patrol's. Sergeant Help ran into the tree's on the north side of the clearing and disappeared. Jek, Rhy's and himself all moved into the tree's on the south side and hid, waiting for the droid's to pass them by.

They didn't have to wait long. Around 2 dozen B1 battle droid's marched past them from the west, moving mere feet from where the 3 of them were hiding. The large patrol continued on, eventual completely passing them by until they spotted the General up ahead of them.

_'Time to attack.'_ He knew.

With a silent gesture to his men, him and Rhy's both took aim and fired upon the unsuspecting droid's from behind. A head shot from himself and a body shot from Rhy's, and soon the rest of the droid's were turning and firing back, forming a circle to defend from all side's. He saw the General bounding around between rock's and tree's but he had no idea where Help had gone.

_'He said that he would attack from the north, but he's not here.'_ Thire thought.

Focusing back on the battle he shifted his aim to the right and fired again, yet another battle droid falling to the ground in a smoking heap. To his left Rhy's was doing the same thing, within mere second's, 6 of the 30 or so B1's had been destroyed. Jek's finally decided to stand from cover and introduce himself.

"Suck laser!" Jek shouted, his rotary cannon quickly spinning up and spitting out bolt's of blue death, destroying a half a dozen droid's in the blink of an eye.

In the chaos, 12 had been destroyed, but somehow the rest had disappeared. Thire assumed that they had gone after the General. When the 3 of them approached the still smoking bodies and double checked that they were in fact destroyed, he spoke up.

"Where's the General?" He asked.

Before anyone either of his men could answer him though, a group of super battle droid's appeared through the tree's behind them and opened fire.

"Damn! fall back, there's too many of them!" He ordered while running with the other two, heading east towards the General's last known location.

Unfortunately they were unable to find the General, and so they continued running turning south east to trying and buy the General some time.

"I hope the General reaches the rendezvous point." Rhy's yelled while trying to dodge the incoming blaster fire from their pursuer's.

"We're sure buying him time!" Jek grumbled loudly.

_'I damn well hope so.'_ Thire thought.

The three of them leapt down a ledge into a long, straight ravine and ran along it, trying to put some distance between themselves and the droid's. Sadly this meant that their enemy now had the high ground and almost immediately, a wrist rocket fired by an SBD up on the ledge they had leapt from, flew towards him, exploding mere feet behind him and carrying him off of his feet. When he crashed back into the hard packed dirt, Rhy's rushed over and helped him up.

"Sir, can you walk?" Rhy's asked urgently over the sound of blaster fire, Jek was busy providing cover fire.

"I think I'm okay." He replied, unable to tell the true extent of his injuries because of the adrenaline.

"Die Republic dog's!" The low monotone, synthetic voice of a super battle droid yelled from behind him.

Leaning heavily on Rhy's, the two of them ran towards Jek as fast as they could. The sudden excruciating pain in his right leg as soon as he put weight on it told him that it was broken.

_'Not good, really not good.'_ Thire thought.

The SBD's were almost on top of them by now, their shot's coming closer and closer. He was preparing to hold his ground and fight, go down in a blaze of glory, when he saw a flash of green from atop the southern ridge. Moment's later General Yoda leapt down between themselves and the droid's, his green lightsaber deflecting the enemies blast fire felling 2 of them, buying him, Rhy's and Jek time to retreat behind some rock's.

The 3 of them took turn's leaning or standing from behind cover to fire at the enemy. General Yoda used their cover fire to rush over to his side. Leaning from a sitting position Thire squeezed of a few shot's, hitting 2 SBD's but only destroying 1 of them.

_'Tough damn thing's.'_ He thought before turning to the General.

"What are we gonna do Sir?" He asked.

The General just closed his eye's and hummed, deactivating his lightsaber. The little old Jedi moved to sit in front of him and his men, while they sat with their back pressed to the rock they were using as cover.

"What's the General doing?"Jek asked urgently.

"Who knows, keep blasting!" Rhy's replied, leaning around cover to fire again.

The 3 of them continued to hold back the droid's as best they could. They destroyed a few, but there always seemed to be another one just behind it, ready to take it's place. Another patrol had evidently joined the original one at some point. There was about a dozen of them left when he heard the General hum behind him. As he focused on the advancing super's, the one in front slowly began to levitate and turn in the air, gripped by some invisible force.

_'So this is the Jedi's power in action.'_ Thire thought in awe.

The deeply confused SBD was force to activate it's wrist blaster's and take aim at it's comrade's. It's equally confused companion's only had a second before they were ripped apart by friendly fire.

"Hey! What's going on?" The floating droid asked, it's blaster still gunning down it's own team. "Get out of the way all of you! I'm having a serious malfunction!" It continued, still sounding baffled as it destroyed 2 more SBD's.

_'This would actually be quite funny if the thought of it happening to me wasn't so terrifying.'_ Thire thought.

Finally the rest of the SBD's decided that their manipulated companion was too much of a danger to their mission and turned their blaster's on it. When they had completely destroyed it, only 4 remained, beginning their attack again.

"Hold your fire, coming to join us our missing friend is." The General ordered. Despite not understanding what he was talking about, they did as ordered and stopped firing.

"Sir?" Thire questioned. The General's answer was to simply point behind them towards the remaining super's, and when he looked over at them he understood.

From the northern ridge of the thin shallow valley they were all in, Sergeant Help leapt through the air onto the back of one of the super's as silently as possible. While perch upon it's back, he clung on with his left hand and fire his rifle with his right. The droid closest to him was shot so many time's that the blue plasma damn near drilled a hole through it's back and out of it's face plate.

The other 2 turned as quickly as they could and opened fire, destroying the droid that Help was clinging to. The Sergeant responded by jumping from it's back and running full speed at them, focusing his fire on the one on the left. By the time he had reached the one on the right, the droid his was firing at was a smoking heap. 

Thire and his men watched on stunned as the Commando's hand shot forward, lightning fast, a small vibro blade springing from behind his closed fist. When Help's fist connected with the last super, the blade tore through it's optic's and into it's mechanical brain.

With all of the droid's destroyed, Help walked over to them calmly loading a fresh charge cell into his rifle. His wrist blade had retracted as soon as he had pulled his fist out of the super's face.

"Well that wasn't quite how we'd planned to deal with them, but it worked in the end." The Sergeant said light heartedly.

It worked to relieve some of the tension and stress that they were all feeling. For just a moment, the 5 of them stopped to catch their breath.

"That was incredible!" Rhy's said to Help, awed.

"you've got a vibro blade, that's awesome!" Jek yelled enthusiastically.

"Nicely done Commando. For a moment there I thought you'd gotten lost." Thire Joked, earning a chuckle from the larger Clone.

"Not quite. A few of the B1's had splintered off so I chased them down when I saw that you 3 had the rest covered." Help explained.

"The plan it was not, but trust in the Force you should. A better guide, there is not." The General added, speaking to them all but mostly addressing Help.

_'Probably because he's shown an interest in all that Force stuff.'_ Thire thought.

Their break didn't last long as soon, 3 droideka's were rolling down into the valley where the super's bodies lay. The trio quickly came to a stop, deployed their shield's, and began firing at them.

General Yoda leapt up onto the rock that they were still using for cover and started deflecting the enemies blaster bolt's as best as he could.

"Retreat! Cover you I will." The General ordered.

He was about to do as he was told, had even stood, ready to limp away with his men, when Help stopped him.

"Keep us covered General, I've got a plan!" The Sergeant ordered. "Lieutenant, you and your boy's take aim at one each. When their shield's are down, hit them hard."

The Commando gave order's confidently, taking control only now when he deemed absolutely necessary. Thire followed Help's order's and together Jek, Rhy's and himself aimed their blaster's at each on the destroyer droid's. Jek and Rhy's took the one's on the left and right, and he took the one in the middle, patiently waiting for whatever the Commando had planned.

He saw Help removing section's of his DC-17m and attaching new one's, popping a small tube shaped grenade into a slot on the side before snapping it shut. All of this was done with steady hand's and well practiced ease, taking barely a second.

Once ready, Help aimed high and pulled the trigger, a bubbly thudding sound announcing the round being fired. A moment later the HE round struck the top of the middle droid's shield, over powering it causing it to shut down. The explosion washed over the side's of the first one's shield just before it deactivate, hitting the neighbouring droid's and knocking out their shield's too.

"Their shield's are down boy's, scrap 'em!" Thire ordered, a hail of bolt's flying forward and decimating the now defenceless droideka's. They were smoking heap's in second's.

"Nicely done Lieutenant, those shield's tend to have a fairly short cycle rate. If you wait too long the pop back up again." Help said. "Good aim there boy's, I don't think their gonna be getting back up from that." The Commando's praise seemed to carry a lot of wait with Jek and Rhy's, he couldn't deny his own little feeling of pride.

"Thank you Sir" Rhy's replied.

"Their not so tough without their shield's!" Jek boasted.

"Much appreciated Sergeant. Your plan was easy to follow once I saw what you were doing." Thire said. He found that he didn't mind the Commando taking the lead so long as he could keep them alive.

"Yes, Very well done to all of you. But move on we must." The General ordered, jumping up onto Help's back once again.

"Agreed Master Yoda, we don't want to be late now, do we?" Help said with an audible smile.

"Indeed, rude to be late it is." General Yoda chuckled in reply.

With that said, they set off heading north east, relieved to no longer be running from blaster fire for a little while. When he visualised a mental map of the area, Thire realised that they had essentially moved in a large semi circle around the south side of where their escape pod had crash landed.

_'A straight path we will not follow.'_ He remembered the General say before they had first set off.

"You injured Thire?" Help suddenly asked from beside him, the questioned reminding him of the pain in his leg. "That's quite a limp."

"Wrist rocket knocked me off my feet." Thire explained. "I think the landing broke my leg."

"I see. Rhy's, come give the Lieutenant a hand, try to take some of the weight off of his leg." The Sergeant ordered. "We'll be walking for a little while longer, but once we settle down to rest for a bit, I'll take a look at it."

Rhy's quickly did as asked and walked alongside him, pulling his arm around his neck to take the pressure off of his right leg. Jek was walking behind them all guarding the rear, and Help and the General walked on ahead, chatting and laughing freely.

_'Very strange indeed.'_

  
**Yoda POV:**

  
_'Truly beautiful this moon is'_ He thought, sorrow slowly filling him as he thought of the destruction that their presence was bringing.

The beeping of an incoming transmission from Lieutenant Thire's holo communicator pulled him from his sad musing's.

"Incoming transmission from King Kutuunko General." The Lieutenant reported.

"Very good, speak to him I will." He replied.

The Lieutenant quickly accepted the incoming transmission and soon, a small blue hologram of the lavishly dressed Toydarian King appeared.

**"Master Yoda, I hear you are having some trouble with the droid's."** King Kutuunko said sounding rather unimpressed.

"Trouble? Know nothing of this trouble do I." Yoda Replied. "Look forward to our meeting soon I do" He found great joy in little moment's of cheekiness. They were a welcome break from the seriousness and hardship's of war.

The transmission from the holocomm suddenly flipped and rolled before displaying the upset visage of his fallen Padawan's apprentice. She clutched the communicator in a claw like grip and crushed it, the transmission turning to nothing more than static moment's later.

"... I think you upset her Master Yoda." The Clone Commando he was currently sitting on said humorously.

"My intention that was not, but always so quick to anger those who follow the dark side are." Yoda explained. "In her anger, mistake's will she make."

Yoda found that he was quite found of the young Clone Commando. He was a kind soul who possessed a curious mind. Far too often, Clone Trooper's were so bound by protocol and indoctrination that they hardly ever called him anything other that 'Sir' or 'General'. They also generally seemed to care very little for anything other than blaster's and fighting battle's.

This 'Help' was different though. He actively sought knowledge and understanding, soaking up anything he could about the Force, the Jedi, the Sith and even thing's like galactic politics'. The young Clone had a desire to expand his understanding so that he could better grasp the universe he lived in. Strangely enough, Sergeant Help felt like a kind of kindred spirit to Yoda, and when he reached out to the Clone through the Force, he understood why.

_'Strong in the Force, his connection is.'_ He sensed. _'Seek to understand that connection he does.'_

Jedi protocol dictated that Force sensitive individual's were to be documented and handled by the Jedi order. Youngling's were to be taken in and trained to become future Jedi themselves. But Yoda was never proud of when they did this, he understood that it ad become tradition and that in most case's, it was necessary to avoid untrained Force sensitive individual's being corrupted by the dark side, or head hunted by the Sith. 

But Yoda could feel that Help was different, he could feel that the young Clone's path was not that of the Jedi, nor that of the Sith. Instead the Commando's future led in a direction he could not see, into a grey fog that was rarely explored. Yoda knew that the Jedi way was to enforce the light and banish the dark, but for Help, such did not seemed to be the will of the Force. And he would respect that and trust in the Force, as he has for many year's.

_'And besides, he is too old... Yes, too old to begin the training to be Jedi.'_ Yoda thought, happy to have come up with an excuse to leave the young Clone to follow his own path, rather than have it decided for him by other's.

The Clone in question was still happily carrying him upon his back, contentedly admiring his surrounding's. Yoda was surprised but very grateful when Help had offered to carry him stating that 'With age come's wisdom Master Yoda, and you are very old. I believe that it's wise to accept the help of the young from time to time.' a statement that had deeply amused him.

_'A kind soul he has.'_ Yoda knew. _'But one with power, a controlled strength.'_

Help's presence in the Force was interesting. It was incredibly faint, hidden from most without thought, as though he had been doing so for so long without even knowing that it had become a reflex to him now. 

What he could feel of the Clone's Force essence was warm, welcoming and kind. But there was a sharpness to it as well. A strength and resolve, a willingness for violence when all other path's have failed. It was neither light nor dark, but instead a firm balance which would worry most Jedi and sicken most Sith. Help's soul felt cautionary, warning all who neared that his kindness would only go so far, and that violence will take it's place if necessary.

For almost all Jedi and Sith, finding a balance between the light and the dark was impossible. The fevered dream of a mad man trying to find perfection in an imperfect galaxy. To most, the fall to the dark was inevitable, the Sith encouraged it and the Jedi feared it. Yoda however felt no fear of the young Clone falling from his path.

_'Blaze a new trail you will, to a new understanding of the Force.'_ He thought happily. Yoda was committed to the Jedi way and would not stray from it, but he would be happy to see Help begin a new teaching.

"Anger can lead to irrationality. Irrationality often lead's to mistake's." Help said, drawing his attention back to the situation at hand. "But anger can be helpful. Used correctly it can be controlled, cooled and directed. Anger can be used to make your action's more effective, like sharpening a dull blade." The Force sensitive Clone was effortlessly philosophical. His understanding and grasp on emotion and nature was so clear that a lesser Jedi might feel a surge of envy. Yoda merely delighted in it.

_'An empath he is, a natural ability to feel the soul of other's he has.'_ He knew. _'Teach him to accept his emotion's it will, rather than allow them to run rampant or suppress them.'_

Yoda was fascinated by Help's potential. Almost all Sith vented their emotion's wildly, lashing out at anyone and anything. Jedi mean while were taught to accept emotion, contain them, and then release them into the Force, never to show them. Help however could do both, he would be able to take his emotion's, temper them, and then wield them.

"True that is, but volatile Ventress anger is. In her desire to please her Master, over commit she will." He said.

He could see the back of Help's helmeted head bob as he nodded in agreement, and through the Force he felt the Clone's thought's darken.

_'Feel sorrow and grief for her you do. To find it in your heart to care for an enemy, show's true compassion.'_ He thought, feeling sadness fill his own heart for the lost, angry young woman. Another fallen Padawan.

Their small, tired group walked on for a short while longer, the afternoon sun beginning to set, dropping slowly to meet the horizon, steadily falling from the evening sky. They came upon a long canyon, half way up the western wall of which, they found a small cave.

"Are you sure we should go in there General?" Lieutenant Thire asked sceptically, exhaustion apparent in his voice and posture. "There's no way out of there if they find us."

"Rest we must. Safe we shall be." He replied, attempting to reassure the tired Trooper.

Upon entering the cave, Help kneeled down as low as he could and allowed him to jump from his back. Clone trooper Rhy's went about setting up a portable light/heater combo unit, casting the cave wall's in a warm orange glow. Trooper Jek meanwhile was rifling through pack's and pouches for a while before speaking up.

"We're low on ammo Sir." He reported. "Only got 2 grenade's left, and a single rocket for the launcher."

"I've got 2 HE round's left, 4 charge cell's, and a breaching charge." Sergeant Help announced.

"That against a whole battalion?" Rhy's asked defeatedly. "Forget it, we've lost."

"So certain of defeat are you?" Yoda chuckled, using his lightsaber to slice through the Lieutenant's blaster to make a rough crutch for him.

"With respect General, maybe you should go on without us." Thire suggested tiredly. "Let us try to slow the clanker's down."

_'So quick to die for their loyalty they are.'_ He thought sadly.

"All around us Lieutenant, is that which we need to prevail." He replied as he passed the mangled blaster to Thire, the injured Clone quickly using it to lean on.

"Come, sit. Your helmet's, remove them, your face's I wish to see." He continued, seeing an opportunity to teach again.

_'Always a joy it is, to spread knowledge instead of destruction.'_ He thought happily.

"One moment Master Yoda." Help interrupted. "I need to see to Thire's injuries."

The Sergeant walked over and slowly lowered the Lieutenant into a sitting position and removed his right shin guard. He gently poked and prodded, testing the tenderness of different area's for a little while before reaching into his pack and removing some equipment.

"Right shin bone seems to be the worst of it, fortunately it's fractured not broken." Help reported. "It's still gonna hurt for a good long while, but hopefully it shouldn't take too long to heal up once we get you seen to properly." The Commando's diagnosis brought a visible wave of relief from the other 3 Clone trooper's, all of which had removed their helmet's. Help however had yet to.

"Your body suit should act like a pressure bandage, stop the leg from shifting to much and damaging itself further." Help continued while picking up a syringe and injecting it into Thire's neck. "Painkiller, should tide you over until a proper medic can see to you."

"Thanks', it's already helping." Thire said, his muscle's visibly relaxing as the fast acting painkiller's started working.

"Not a problem Thire." The Commando said before turning to look at him. "All done, please continue Master Yoda."

All four Clone's now sat in a small semi circle around him, all but Help having removed their helmet's still.

"Your helmet Sergeant." Yoda reminded.

"Oh, yeah, sure thing Sir." Help replied, smoothly removing his green and orange painted helmet. The 2 painted line's on the front reminding him of Ventress.

_'More and more intriguing you are becoming young one.'_ He thought.

When the Commando's face was finally revealed Yoda was, for the first time in a while, truly surprised, as were the other Clone's. One eye a stunning blue and the other a burning red stared back at him. Jet black hair, shave near bald at the side's and back but left neck length on top, tied into a low pony tail. His face that was shared by all Jango Fett Clone's was marred only by a cluster of near invisible scar's around his red right eye, only adding to it's menacing appearance.

But despite all of that, Help's expression displayed not a hint of anger or malevolence. In fact the unique Clone sat there with a gentle smile and relaxed brow's.

_'Know not to judge by appearance I should.'_ He thought, plenty familiar with being judged for his own appearance.

The other 3 were not quite so understanding, clearly caught off guard by their brother's bizarrely unique eye's. Even more so since this was the first time they had ever seen them.

"What the hell." Jek said sounding slightly uncomfortable. "Why are your eye's like that?"

"I've seen heterochromia before, but never them colour's." Rhy's added, obviously fascinated by them.

"Where'd the scar's come from?" Thire asked, eager to hear some war stories from his new friend.

"You'll have to ask the Kaminoan's Jek, I've always looked this way." Help answered easily, he'd obviously been asked them same question's before. "Got the scar's from Teth. An AT-TE got hit while I was running over to it, and the blast shattered my visor. The glass cut up around my eye a bit, I'm kinda luck I didn't lose it."

"That hair cut definitely isn't regulation." Rhy's stated.

"Commando... Different regulation's." Help replied, a note of cheekiness colouring his word's which Yoda chuckled at.

"No less your brother now is, than mere moment's ago." Yoda added. "Judge him not for his appearance should we." He was happy to see the Lieutenant and his men nod and smile.

"Thank you Master Yoda." The Sergeant said gratefully. "You said that you wanted to see our face's Sir?" He reminded him.

"Besides Help there's not much to see really, we all share the same face." Thire stated.

"Deceive you eye's can, in the Force, very different each one of you are." He explained, walking up to Rhy's on the far left. "Rhy's, always focused on the enemy are you. For inspiration, look to yourself and those beside you." With that said, he moved down the line stopping in front of Jek. "Jek, concerned about weapon's you are. Weapon's do not win battle's. Your mind, powerful it is, out think the droid's you can." Next in line was the Lieutenant. "Thire, rush not into fight's. Long is the war, only by surviving it will we prevail... Yes, hmm." He hummed to himself at the end, satisfied with his lesson to the 3 Clone Trooper's.

"All of my brother's are out there, fighting the war, and we patrol Coruscant guarding senator's." Thire said sounding ashamed of himself. Help quickly turned to Thire and spoke.

"Fighting the war in the outer rim is important, but defending Coruscant is equally, if not more so." The 3 Trooper's looked a little confused so Help explained for them. "The fastest way to kill a beast is to cut out it's heart. If the Separatist's ever managed to take Coruscant, the Republic would soon fall." They now seemed to understand and their eye's hardened with determination. "You three may not be out there fighting great battle's and winning glory, but what you do is important, never doubt that." Help finished.

"Correct the Sergeant is. Protector's of the peace the Jedi are, a task not done by fighting battle's, but instead by providing a feeling of security and normality to your people. A noble mission you are assigned Lieutenant, have pride in that you should." Yoda added, happy to see a proud glimmer in the determined eye's of the Trooper's.

"Sir, yes Sir." They said in unison happily. Finally he moved on to Help, stopping to look up into his mismatched eye's.

"Bound to the Force are you. Feel it you do." He began, noticing a brief flash of panic in the Clone's eye's. He clearly did not want anyone to find out about his connection to the Force. "A unique path will you walk. Find it you must, and pave the way for other's to follow. A leader you are, a leader you will be. Trust in the Force to guide your step's, but decide for yourself whether to take them or not. A good leader must now when to lead, and when to follow." 

He felt in his heart that this was indeed the will of the Force, and that Help was destined to lead in one capacity or another. Whether he chose to walk the path the Force laid for him would ultimately be his choice.

Help visibly relaxed when he realised that he wasn't going to report him for being a Force sensitive.

_'Fear being taken he does. To be experimented on or indoctrinated. Fear becoming a slave he does, and rightly so.'_ He knew.

He walked back over and took a seat on a rock facing the 4 Clone's before speaking again.

"Clone's you may be, but the Force resides in all life form's. Use it you can to quiet your mind's." He taught, enjoying the feeling of imparting a little wisdom.

After a few minute's of silent meditation, Help asked to speak to him in private. They walked to the mouth of the cave and sat side by side looking down into the canyon below.

"You can tell can't you?" The Sergeant asked despite already knowing the answer.

"A powerful connection to the Force you have. Strong, but unexplored. Hidden from most it is, but feel it I can." He answered honestly.

"Well I don't exactly have a Master to teach me and I don't see myself getting one anytime soon. Besides I really don't like the thought's of what could happen to me if anyone else found out." Help said. "I've managed to do a little bit of research using the Holonet, but it's not enough. I know that I don't want to be a Sith, but I also don't want to be a Jedi. No offence Master Yoda, but it's just not for me."

"Safe with me your secret is. Understand that you must follow your own path I do." He said. "But why may I ask do you not want to be a Jedi."

"The Jedi are empty. Cold. Lonely. They feel hollow and false, like their compassion is a teaching they follow and not something they can truly feel." Help explained. "I believe that attachment's and emotion's are a vital part of life. I don't think that I could live the way you Jedi strive for, I don't want to be able to."

Yoda was about to speak again when he felt Help zone out a little, his essence reaching out through and grasping hold of a near invisible echo in the Force. A few second's later the Commando's eye's regained focus and he spoke again with a smile on his face, looking like he had finally found the word's to explain how he felt.

"Apathy is death Master Yoda, and I want to live while I can." Help said happily.

_'Hear a voice from the past he did.'_ Yoda thought amazed at the young Clone's natural power. _'Find his teacher from echo's in the Force he could.'_

"True it is, what you say about the Jedi. Many year's have I had to learn the difference between suppressing emotion and letting them go." He explained, Help listened eagerly and Yoda felt like, at least for the moment, he had taken on another Padawan. "Feel through the Force you do. Force empathy it is, the feeling's of yourself and other's strengthen and revitalise you. Overwhelm most that can, but a strong mind and steady heart you have. drown in what you feel, I don't believe you will."

"I don't actually do it on purpose. It's passive, I can feel most people all of the time." Help said, but he didn't sound even the slightest bit overwhelmed by it.

_'Experience has taught him control.'_ He thought.

"Taught through experience control is. Useful technique's can be learned, but rely on them you should not. A unique path do walk, unique technique will you need to find for yourself." He said. "Attempt now to quiet your mind and focus. Imagine the Force in a way that make's sense to you. Visualise it and reach out with your sense's. Access it, and feel. Never demand of the Force, a cost there is, for taking more than you are freely given." He taught.

The young Clone closed his eye's and took a slow calming breath. For a few moment's Help did nothing but focus on his breathing, but eventually he could tell that the Commando had done it, he was reaching out. Slowly, nearby small rock's and pebble's began to float from the ground a few inch's and hover steadily in the air. A distinct feeling of euphoria rolled off of Help in gentle wave's.

"It's... It's beautiful." Help muttered happily in a daze, his eye's still closed and focused. "There's so much life. So much light. Even the shadow's are beautiful."

"Yes, truly wonderful the Force is, but dangerous too. Take care that you do not stray from your path. Easy it is, to lose one's self to the dark. Easy it is to be blinded by the light. Believe I do, that somewhere in-between, your future lies." Yoda explained.

After a few minute's of idle meditation, Help brought his focus back and turned to him again. The Clone then reached up into the curved pouch over his heart, and removed an equally curved lightsaber hilt from inside of it.

"When General Kenobi fought Ventress on Teth, he eventually managed to disarm her. This damn near fell right into my hand's, and I know that I should have given it over to the General, but I didn't want to let it go. I still don't want to, I feel like it need's me and I don't want to abandon it." Help said as he passed the weapon over to his small clawed hand's.

He inspected the weapon for a moment before speaking.

"The heart of the lightsaber a Kyber crystal is. Reflects and absorbs the feeling's of it's wielder, their echoes in the Force the crystal does." He explained. "Great anger this one has felt, and beneath, great pain and sorrow. Like a wound that still bleed's these feeling's are."

"I know. On Teth, I touched her for a second, and when I did I could feel everything." Help said as a tear slipped from the corner of his red eye at the memory. "So much pain... She's so... Alone."

"Yes, her suffering you felt, as does this crystal. But healing slowly it's wound's are, bleeding becoming scar's, the pain never forgotten but accepted and remembered." Yoda said. "A reminder those scar's will be, of what once was and could be again. Cautious the crystal will be, but no longer drowning in it sorrow, no longer bleeding from open wound's."

"I try my best to sooth it, to take the pain away and offer it some understanding. But whether it's actually doing any good, I don't know." Help explained sounding a little like a youngling, not quite understanding how to explain what he mean's.

"Healing it you are. Over time, a great trust it will feel for you, a great love. A powerful ally it could become." Yoda felt that he was not just speaking about Ventress's lightsaber now, but perhaps even the young woman herself.

_'Maybe save her from the dark you can, be a light for her where all other light have gone out.'_ He thought hopefully.

He carefully handed the lightsaber back to Help, and the Commando gently returned it to it's home over his heart, making sure that it was secure. He was curious as to why the Clone had not activated the blade as most with lightsaber's are eager to do.

_'Reflect the wielder the colour of the crystal does. What colour will yours be young one?'_ He mused.

The pair once more returned to a comfortable silence, just enjoying the colour's of the sky deepening as the sun continued to set. After a little while, Help spoke up again quietly, trying not to disturb the peace that had settled.

"I could hear her in my mind, talk to her when I met her on Teth." Help said obviously referring to Ventress. "I wonder if it'll happen again."

_'A Force bond, most intriguing.'_ He thought.

"A Force bond it is. Very rare, to form such a deep connection to a stranger." Yoda said. "But trust in the will of the Force I do. Respect the connection you have to her, you should. But seek it only if it is your desire. Guide you the Force will, only guide, choose to follow where it lead's only you can." He explained, wanting the Clone to understand that the Force does not control, it only guide's and suggests. To follow it's guidance is and always will be, a choice.

"I see. Thank you Master Yoda, for everything." Help said sincerely.

"Welcome, you are." He replied.

_'Look forward to seeing what your future hold's, I do.'_

  
**Help POV:**

  
_'As expected, Master Yoda is a rich source of wisdom if one care's to seek it.'_ Help thought happily.

The ancient Jedi seemed more than happy to sate his curiosity, and he found that he was relieved to finally have someone to confide in about his connection to the Force. Help felt exceedingly grateful that said person was not only a trained Jedi, but the Grandmaster of the Jedi order, he couldn't ask for a better teacher to show him the rope's.

Master Yoda had cleared up a lot of confusion that he had about a lot of thing's, and had begun to teach him thing's that Help couldn't wait to explore further; Meditation, connecting to and feeling the Force around him, bond's and echoes and memories stored in the Force. It was like having his eye's opened for the first time, and the world he saw was beautiful.

Thinking of echoes and memories, Help thought back to when he had zoned out earlier while talking to Master Yoda. 

He had been explaining his dislike of the Jedi way and their attitude towards emotion's, when he had suddenly felt a connection. It was by no mean's intrusive or forced, but instead it was like a thought that ran parallel to his own. So similar to his own feeling's that they just clicked together, and once they did, he had heard a voice clearly in his mind. The voice of an old woman, filled with wisdom gathered by age, but still strong and powerful. The voice had been accompanied by a flash, a momentary glimpse of a woman's face surrounded by white hair and covered partially by a brown hood.

Somehow he knew that woman's name, without needing to be told he had simply known it. She was known as Kreia, and she had spoke three simple word's that had said everything he was trying to say himself.

_'Apathy is death'_ She had said. The was no malice in her voice, nor was it a dead monotone. She had spoken as if it was a fact, and he had agreed with her.

When he had come back from that connection, Yoda had taught him how to meditate and feel the Force around him consciously for the first time, and it was life changing. The world around him had exploded into a dizzying array of bright light's, deep shadow's, and intense colour's. An amazing glimpse beneath the surface of the physical universe.

_'Luminous being's are we, not this crude matter.'_ He remembered Master Yoda saying mere hour's ago before they had arrived on this moon.

The Force was proving to be truly fascinating, filling him with a completeness that he had never felt before. He felt like a fog had been lifted from his mind that he hadn't eve known was there.

For now though, his study and exploration of the Force would have to wait. Almost immediately following his conversation with Yoda, the peaceful silence was brutally shattered by the sudden rumble of engine's and the relentless march of clanking metal feet.

Plant's were crushed and tree's that had been growing for many year's were torn up, root and stem as the droid army continued their hunt without care. Help hadn't properly distanced himself from his connection to the Force around him, and so he could feel everything. Every broken branch, crushed bud and mangled seed. He felt it all surrounding him as the natural world was defiled by the steady march of war.

Master Yoda must have seen or felt his pain because he quickly glanced away from the incoming droid's and looked at him in concern.

"Important it is, to listen to the Force around you. To stop and feel the Galaxy breath. But know when to distance yourself, and focus on the here and now, you must." Yoda warned wisely.

With some effort, he managed to shut out some of the cries of pain around him. He would not close himself off and hide from this world's suffering completely, he owned it to the Force to share in it's pain. The Force lingered in the back of his mind, small stab's of pain reminding him of the damage this war was causing.

_'All the more reason for it to end.'_ He thought.

The boy's still inside the cave must have heard the droid's coming, as they soon rushed out and joined them in watching the column march closer. The Jek and Rhy's had their blaster's in hand and helmet's back on, ready for a fight. Thire however, no longer had a blaster as his was now being used as a crutch.

Help stood and slid his own helmet on, then waited for his armour's personal shield's to charge and cycle. Once done, he joined the other's atop a nearby ledge and looked down at the marching droid's.

"Tank's, is that the best they can throw at us?" Rhy's asked, clearly still riding the prideful high from earlier.

True to the Trooper's claim's, there were indeed 3 droid operated tank's moving through the valley below them. They were moving in a tight, parade formation. Single file with B1's and SBD's marching in-between and alongside as escort's.

"Yeah, but I've only got one rocket." Jek muttered gravely.

_'We think carefully and be smart about this, we should be fine.'_ He thought.

"Go down and greet them I will." Master Yoda suddenly announced.

_'... Or not...'_ Help revised.

"General, you don't plan to take on that whole column by yourself?" Jek asked incredulously.

Master Yoda just giggled and glanced back over his shoulder, already standing on the edge.

"Have you four I do, outnumbered they are." The General said cheekily.

_'Jedi logic.'_ Help thought.

"know the time to help me, you will." Master Yoda stated before he leapt from the edge and landing softly, directly in front of the marching droid's. Every single one of the tin soldier's coming to a halt and aiming at the little green creature that was blocking their path.

"Thire, stay up here and protect the General. Trust Master Yoda and trust yourself, you'll know what to do. My place is down there." He said to his brother and his men.

"You got it Commando, give 'em hell." Thire replied before turning to order Jek and Rhy's into position, ready to attack when needed.

"Good luck Vode." Help said, earning nod's from all three.

While Master Yoda took the front of the column, he would take the rear of it. With that rough plan in mind, he ran along the top of the western canyon wall until he was behind the rear tank and quickly descended into the valley below. Sliding and jumping with ease, he landed behind a boulder and waited for his moment to strike.

"Quickly ready, aim, fire!... FIRE!!!" The yellow painted droid commander screamed desperately. As one, the tank's and foot soldier's opened fire on Master Yoda who was just sat in front of them calmly.

The diminutive Jedi was prepared for this and Help watched as he leapt up through the smoke, completely unharmed and when he landed, began to cut through the droid's like a gardener through spring grass.

_'Definitely a Force thing.'_ He knew. He was finding hat a lot of thing's could be explained this way.

As soon as he saw the green glow of Master Yoda's lightsaber disappear under the lead tank, Help decided that it was time to engage. 

Standing quickly, he ran full speed towards the rear tank, the surrounding sound of blaster fire and dying droid's helping to mask his approach. By the time he had reached his target, it was already too late for the droid's to do anything other than scream.

Firing quick controlled burst's from his DC-17m, he destroyed the 4 battle droid's that were guarding the tank and sprinted up the side of it, all the way up to the top hatch.

"Hey! You're not supposed to be up here!" The confused green tank commander screamed, so baffled by his sudden appearance that it didn't even acknowledge it's destroyed escort's.

"I know right! Ain't that weird?" He replied with mock confusion and surprise, having a good internal laugh at the poor droid's expense. He kept his rifle ready to fire at a moment's notice.

"Hey Yeah, it is weird. I... Ohh..." The droid muttered despondently as it finally began to understand what was going on.

Help fired a short burst to put the B1 out of it's misery and then took a quick look around, assessing the situation. 

Thire was still waiting for his moment while Jek and Rhy's occasionally fire down into the mess that the valley had become, the droid column rapidly dwindling. The General had already destroyed the first tank and was now busy taking care of the rest of it's escort's. 

That left the middle tank which was occasionally being hit by Jek and Rhy's from above. Seeing that it was preparing to fire at the General, Help had an idea. Reaching down into the hatch at his feet, he quickly pulled the destroyed droid's body out and climbed inside the tank. After taking a moment to figure out the control, he swivelled the main gun around and aimed it directly at the back of the middle tank. A button press later, the cannon fired, a large burst of red plasma striking a weak point in the tank's rear armour, exploding and destroying it from the inside out. The explosion was powerful enough to blow the tank's turret clean off and a several feet into the air.

_'Now to clear up the rest of the tinnie's.'_ He thought.

Climbing back out of the hatch, he perched his rifle on the edge and fired, quick controlled burst's making short work of most of the remaining battle droid's. Master Yoda soon reached the centre and joined in, his short green lightsaber cutting through the droid's leg's and torso's easily as he ran and leapt from place to place.

While he and Yoda were finishing off the dozen or so B1's that were left, Help suddenly felt frustration, hate, anger, and even fear through the Force. It didn't take him long to figure out who it was coming from.

_'Ventress, she's afraid of failing here. She knows that she's losing'_ He knew.

The fighting went on for a few moment's longer, Master Yoda performing some truly amazing feat's of acrobatics' while Help continued to scrap droid's from his perch atop the rear tank. 

Just as the constant sound of blaster fire was starting to die down, he heard clanking and scrapping rapidly approaching from behind him. When he spun around to defend, he saw a mass of droideka's rolling quickly towards them.

_'I don't have the ammo to deal with that many of them, and the General's too busy checking the droid's are down to help.'_ He thought.

From the corner of his eye he was Thire, Jek and Rhy's kneeling atop the wall to his left. Master Yoda had been sure that Thire would know when to act, and Help had faith that he would.

_'Don't let us down boy's'_ He mentally said.

Thire didn't disappoint. He steadily shouldered the rocket launcher and looked down the sight's. After a few painfully long second's, during which the Droideka had come to a stop and were preparing to open fire at him, the rocket flew.

His eye's tracked the black trail of smoke with morbid fascination. The rocket struck the eastern canyon wall, just beneath an overhanging lip of rock. The resulting explosion worked to blow the rock apart, a small mountain of debris broke away and fell, landing squarely atop the unsuspecting droid's, crushing them all instantly.

_'Lesser in number, but larger in mind indeed.'_ Help chuckled proudly in his head.

Now that the shooting had stopped, Help swept his eye's over the valley and believed that all of the droid's were now destroyed.

"Clear!" He shouted, announcing his thought.

"Clear!" Thire yell in confirmation from above.

The three Trooper's of the Coruscant guard climbed down into the valley and slowly made their way over to him and Yoda, Thire limping all the way. Help jumped down from atop the tank and walked over to stand beside the General, loading a new charge cell into his rifle as he walked. When the other's were close enough, Master Yoda spoke, playing with some wild bird like creature's and smiling contently all the while.

"learn something today have you Lieutenant?" General Yoda asked knowingly.

"I think... We all did General." The Limping Trooper answered tiredly, the day's event's obviously wearing on him.

"You know, I was assigned this detail as punishment for insubordination on Teth... It's been oddly enjoyable." Help added happily.

"The will of the Force it is, for you all to be here. This experience, needed it you did." Yoda said wisely. Help could see no reason to refute his claim.

"My squad are not going to be happy when they hear about what they missed." He chuckled knowing it to be true.

"Speaking of which Commando, where are your squad mate's?" Thire asked.

"Kamino. I didn't think that it was fair for them to share my punishment for something that had happened before I'd even met them, so I ordered them to stay. They agreed, but they still aren't going to be happy when they read the report." He answered.

The group all shared a chuckle at that until Master Yoda stood from his seat atop a rock and leapt down, landing on his back once again.

"Come, behind schedule are we. Not polite to be late." General Yoda ordered lightly.

With that said, Help started walking, heading northwest with Yoda on his back, and Thire and his men following behind. Fortunately the sun was still setting and the meeting point was close. Help was confident that they would arrive with time to spare.

_'I guess I'll be seeing you soon Ventress.'_ He thought, somewhat eager to see the Dathomiran beauty again.

  
**Ventress POV:**

  
_'Pathetic, worthless battle droid's. How did they fail such a simple task!'_ She silently raged. _'An old man and a handful of Clone's against an entire army, and still these useless droid's can't do anything right.'_

Of course she was well aware that Master Yoda was the Jedi Grandmaster for a reason, and that capturing the little green creature would be near impossible for most people, but still, the stunning defeat of her force's left her blood boiling inside of her vein's.

_'Jedi scum!'_ She thought hatefully.

The smug, repulsive Toydarian King was currently answering a holotransmission from her Master, and seemed to be taking great joy in loudly mocking him.

"You were right Count Dooku, one Jedi is not worth a hundred battle droid's." Kutuunko began. "More like a thousand." The arrogant scum had the gall to say before turning to a look of faux apology. "I'm sorry, but my people will be siding with the Republic." She could see that this greatly displeased her Master.

**"I urge you to reconsider wise King. I promise you won't regret it."** Her Master both threatened and tempted in one breath. A true manipulator. A Sith lord.

"Your agent also promised Master Yoda a fair fight. I will not deal with those who so easily break their word's." The overgrown bug said angrily.

_'Fair? When is anything ever fair?'_ She hissed in her head bitterly.

**"So be it, perhaps our negotiation's will be more fruitful with your successor."** her Master said ominously. **"Ventress, kill him!"** He ordered.

She knew better than to defy her Master, and so she eagerly rushed to comply. Her twin red lightsaber's flew into her hand's without a thought through muscle memory alone. She had recently managed to construct a replacement for the one she had lost when fighting Kenobi, a loss that she would not soon forget.

Drawing upon her rage, she sent a powerful push through the Force, knocking the two Toydarian guard's away. The fat King flinched heavily as she raised her blade's and swung them towards his feeble, quivering neck. She watched as his eye's snapped shut, waiting for the strike to come, only to peak open again when it never did.

Her hand's were frozen in place, firmly held in place through the Force, her crackling red blade's mere inches from their target. She immediately knew who was responsible.

Indeed when she looked to her right, there he was. Master Yoda stood with his little clawed hand outstretched and an infuriating grin on his face. Behind him stood three regular Clone Trooper's, there colour's marking them as member's of the Coruscant guard.

Two of the Clone's raised their weapon's and gunned down the two battle droid's that she had brought with her, more as a show of power than out of any real need for them.

_'Useless machine's!'_ She thought for the millionth time.

Still gripped in place, she could do nothing more than continue to look around and in doing so, she spotted yet another Clone. This one however was different, his armour was bulkier and he was obviously better armed than the other's. A Commando she knew. 

This man caught her attention for a number of reason's. He was clearly a greater threat than the other Clone's, but there was something else that she was focusing on. His helmet had been decorated with orange paint, and the two stripes down the front were identical to the one's that marked her own face. A very strange sight.

There was also something familiar about him. She had felt his presence through the Force before, but she couldn't quite remember where.

_'Who are you?'_ She questioned mentally, becoming increasingly irritated when she couldn't figure it out. _'Where do I know you from?!'_

_'I guess I shouldn't have expected you to remember me.'_ She heard a warm male voice say gently in her mind. _'After all, we did only meet once.'_

She frantically sought out whoever it was that was doing this, whoever had this power to speak to her like this. When she finally settled a little and brought her eye's back to the Clone Commando, she saw that he had removed his helmet. Once she saw his face, she immediately remembered.

_'You... It's you, again.'_ She mentally whispered, her mind somehow settling into a peaceful calm and spinning violently while she stared into his mismatched eye's. The same eye's that had captivated her when she first saw them on Teth.

_'Me again. Strangely enough, I'm happy to see you again.'_ The Clone said to her, a small teasing smile creeping onto his face when she felt her own begin to grow hot. Against her will, she blushed even harder when she realised that, he taken her marking's for himself after their first meeting.

She was drawn from her weird feeling's regarding the strange Clone when the fat King spoke, confident once again now that the Jedi had arrived to save him.

"Jedi Master Yoda, I am very pleased to meet you at last." The simpering fool said.

"Share the feeling I do King Kutuunko." The Jedi replied before using the Force to push her away. She quickly dropped into a fighting stance once she found her feet.

"Failed you Ventress has Count." The green gremlin said. She was mortified to find that her Master was still watching though the holotransmission. She needed to redeem herself quickly.

"I don't fear you Jedi." She hissed hatefully, preparing to attack.

_'No, you fear your Master.'_ The Clone stated softly in her mind, the kind understanding in his voice threatening to break her mask of anger.

"Strong you are young one, but not that strong." Yoda said.

She was still caught off guard from the Clone's accurate observation's that when the Jedi Master ripped her saber's from her hand's, she couldn't even try to resist. They flew through the air, straight into his little green hand's.

"Still much to learn, you have." He said, using the Force to quickly return them to her.

_'Please don't fight him. For a little old man, he's a lot stronger than he look's'_ The humour in the Clone's voice, and the feeling's that he sent to her through the Force, almost brought a rare happy smile to her face. Luckily she managed to reign it in before that could happen.

_'I don't remember asking for your opinion Clone.'_ She spat back angrily, trying to compensate for her fluctuating feeling's. She immediately felt a twinge of guilt when she felt a flash of hurt coming from the Commando.

_'Just because you're our enemy, doesn't mean that I can't care about you.'_ He replied, a warm feeling momentarily filling her heart before she rushed to crush it. Her fear of abandonment and being hurt again quickly driving her back to anger.

"Surrender, you should." Yoda advised.

She knew that she was outmatched, even more so now that the Clone had thrown her off balance. She needed to escape quickly, something that she had prepared for as soon as she had arrived.

Reaching behind herself, she pulled a detonator from her belt and pressed the button. The large rock formation beside them all exploded, the whole thing beginning to crumble and collapse on top of them. As she turned and ran, she looked back and saw Master Yoda using the Force to grip the rock's and push them away.

When she made it to her small ship, she heard the Clone's voice in her heard one more time.

_'I don't know if you can still hear me or not, and I know that you have no reason to trust me. But I can still remember the pain, the anger, and the loneliness that I felt from you on Teth.'_ He said, genuine sadness coming to her through their strange bond in the Force. _'If there ever come's a time when you need someone to talk to, when you need someone to care, reach out to me. I will be there, I promise.'_ The Clone's word's were sincere and the feeling's that came through the Force confirmed them. 

She decided to reply one last time as she took off.

_'Who are you?'_ She asked, focusing on their bond to send the message.

_'My name is Help.'_ The strange Clone replied.

That was the last thing she heard before her ship flew away, escaping into the star's. A failure, but oddly happy. A tiny needle of warmth and happiness piercing the stone wall's of her heart, filling her with a slither of calm.

_'Help.'_ She thought, red and blue eye's flashing through her mind. _'I will have to keep my eye on you.'_

  
**Help POV:**

  
As Ventress flew away, he couldn't help but smile a little. Seeing her again, she was even more beautiful than he remembered. He was also quite proud of the small crack's he could feel beginning to develop in the guard she had around herself, he was proud to know that he could possibly get through to her. He very much hoped that she would take him up on his offer and reach out to him, Help wanted to learn how to speak to her across a greater distance.

The offer had come to him naturally. He knew that he wanted to help her, to be there for her and maybe take away a little but of her pain. The offer had been something of an olive branch, one which he hoped she would take. He found that he liked the way her raspy voice seemed to tickle his brain with every syllable, both lulling him into a sense of calm and exciting him, stirring feeling and part's of him that had potential to be quite embarrassing.

'Perhaps that's a little creepy, but I don't particularly care.' He thought unashamed. He turned his attention back to the General's meeting with King Kutuunko.

"In the end, coward's are those who follow the darkside." General Yoda said to the hologram of Count Dooku.

**"It's a pity I wasn't there in person, my old Master."** The dignified elderly man replied.

"A pity indeed, my fallen apprentice." Yoda said before the transmission ended and he turned to speak to the King. "Perhaps now, begin negotiation's we can."

"That is not necessary." The Toydarian king replied, drawing an ornate sword from it scabbard and approaching the General. "You have my faith, Toydaria would be honoured to host a Republic base. My people are at your service." He said, carefully passing the sword over to the small Jedi who accepted it with a small bow of his head.

"Your Majesty, fail you we will not." Master Yoda swore.

As if rehearsed, a Republic Venator dropped out of hyperspace and into orbit above them, 3 LAAT's quickly flying down to collect them. Help walked over to give Thire a hand getting over to the transport's.

"Come on Lieutenant, let's get that leg seen to properly." He said, putting Thire's arm over his neck to take his weight.

"Gladly Sergeant. The painkiller's you gave me are starting to wear off." Thire replied good-naturedly, grateful for the help.

"Can't have that. We need you boy's at your best to defend Coruscant." He said." Hey by the way, now you'll have a war story of your own to tell the brother's." Help was genuinely a little proud of his new friend.

"Don't you worry Help, I'll be tip top again in no time." Thire assured confidently with a grin that he gladly returned.

As the blast door's sealed and the gunship lifted off headed for the nearby cruiser, Help had one thought.

_'My boy's really aren't going to be happy.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter ended up longer than I'd thought it would be, but I think that's mostly because of exposition. Hope you all enjoyed.


	7. Malevolence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Help return's to the 501st and save's some live's.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, my head is filled with stories but I'm terrible at sitting down and getting them on paper.

**Help POV:**

_There was a sensation of floating, of being completely weightless and without form. The edge's of his vision were hazy and blurred, a narrow tunnel of spinning cloud's and fog with only the very centre coming into any sort of focus._

_The scene before him was one he was becoming increasingly familiar with. He had deliberately returned to it a number of time's since he had first seen it, the message it carried resonating so deeply with him that he could almost feel it in his bone's._

_"Apathy is death." The hooded woman said firmly. "Worse than death, because at least a rotting corpse feed's the beast's and insect's."_

_This woman was known as Kreia, a Jedi turned Sith turned... Something else. A fallen Jedi from a bygone age, from the day's of the old Republic. She was a woman who, though no longer consumed by it, was still tainted by darkness and what remained of her was little more than a collection of bitter memories and jagged edge's. Her philosophy on the Force and life in general drew him in, but fell to the darker side of the balance he sought._

_He had been searching, trying to grasp at the distant echoes in the Force, as much as his untrained skill's allowed, reaching for more memories of her. He wanted to hear and see more, to take the wisdom and belief's that she had refined over her life and adapt them, to take them into his own. Unfortunately he had found himself grasping at thin air, and so he often returned to this one vision. It was easy to find and return to after that first time, he could almost summon it on demand, and he hoped that familiarity with this one vision and the woman within it would lead to the discovery of more in the future._

As slowly and as careful as he could manage, he pulled himself back from the vision of the past and relaxed his connection to the Force. Despite his best effort's however, his inexperience caused his fledgling mind to stagger and stumble, like a fawn first learning to stand and walk on it's own feet. After a disorienting few minute's, he was able to return his focus to the here and now.

Opening his mismatched eye's slowly, he looked around to remind himself of where he was. 

He was currently sat, cross legged in the centre of a small dark room surrounded by dull grey wall's. The room was incredibly spartan, little more than a single cot in a space the size of a broom closet. He had removed his armour and weapon's a while earlier, placing them on the cot for later maintenance, and was now clad only in his tight black bodysuit. 

When he and Master Yoda had spoken on the Rugosa moon, the Jedi Grandmaster had suggested several different method's and technique's that he could use to meditate more effectively. Burning incense and repeating mantra's hadn't helped him at all, however using his lightsaber as a focus point had. 

The curved, silver hilt was still floating a little unsteadily in front of him, emitting a tiny, budding feeling of trust that was buried beneath the other more standoffish emotion's it still felt. With each day that passed the weapon began to open up to him more and more, old wound's being shown to him and finally being allowed to start healing. The process was going a lot faster now that he could somewhat properly communicate with it. He gently pushed a feeling of gratitude through the Force to the weapon's crystal that was answered by a brief spark of acknowledgement.

_'Baby step's'_ Help said mentally, a soft smile pulling at his lip's. 

The lightsaber had been in his possession for a little over 7 month's now, and not once had he activated it's blade. Somehow it felt wrong to do so without the crystal's full trust and consent, so he would patiently wait for however long it would take.

As he calmly watch the hilt gently spin and bob in front of him, he took a moment to think back to his recent mission.

King Kutuunko, true to his word, had almost immediately authorised the construction of a Republic supply base in the Toydaria system. A crew of Clone engineer's had quickly gotten to work and as he, Master Yoda, Thire and his men had been preparing to leave that very same day, the supply base was already starting to take shape.

All in all the negotiation's had taken 2 day's, one to win Ventress's challenge on the moon, and another to finalise the treaties and oversee the beginning of the construction. General Yoda had been too busy to stay any longer than necessary and had needed to return to Coruscant, Thire and his men also needing to return to their post's. Help had still been waiting to receive his new order's at the time now that his punishment was over, and so he had chosen to join them on their shuttle back.

While enroute to Coruscant they had stopped at a supply station to load up and refuel, and while waiting, he had received a message on his personal data pad. By order of GAR command, he was to report immediately to Captain Rex of the 501st. Apparently the Captain had put in a request to have him assigned to his battalion immediately following the completion of his disciplinary duties.

When he had spoken to Master Yoda about his order's, the Jedi had advised him to seek passage to General Skywalker's flagship the Resolute as that is where the Captain was most likely to be. After saying his goodbye's and wishing the best of luck to the General and Thire, he had gathered all of his gear and set off in search of a supply ship headed for the Resolute.

The Force was with him it seemed as after a bit of asking around and checking flight log's, he had managed to find a supply shuttle loaded with ration's and medical supplies bound for Skywalker's fleet that would soon be leaving. A few quick word's with the ship's captain and a brief explanation of his order's later, he was being shown to a small room and they were off.

With that, he was all caught up. They had been travelling through hyperspace for a few hour's now which had given him a chance to practice his Force abilities a little, and to catch up on report's. 

He had already written and submitted his own report about the Toydaria mission (the burden of command came with a lot of paperwork.) the content's of which had predictably managed to draw the ire of his squad when they had received a copy. When he had called them to relay his and therefore their new order's, the three of them had ranted and raved about how they should have been there, and that he was a Di'kut for allowing them stay behind on Kamino. Well, two of them had ranted and raved, the other one had just stared at him silently with a glowering look in his eye's which was somehow worse.

_'I'm familiar enough with them to expect that kind of response by now, but it's still unpleasant.'_ He thought fondly. Even when they were at odd's with each other, he loved his brother's dearly.

Realising that he still had some time to kill before they arrived, he tried to split his focus between keeping his lightsaber afloat in front of him, and reading some report's on his data pad. Selecting a one recently submitted by the Admiral in charge of Skywalker's fleet, a man by the name of Wullf Yularen, he started reading.

As a Sergeant and more importantly a Commando, he had access to a good deal of military information, and he enjoyed staying up to date with the many different battalion's out there fighting the war. Similarly he also liked checking the Holonet for news from the senate.

Admiral Yularen's report had been submitted barely an hour ago and as he read on he couldn't help but feel growing concern. The Republic had recently become aware of some sort of mystery super weapon that the Separatist's had created, and number of supply ship's and medical vessel's had become it's unfortunate victim's. So far, they had been unable to recover a single survivor from any of these attack's, meaning that the Sep's were being unusually careful to keep their new toy concealed. That was very worrying, usually the Separatist's enjoyed boasting about any little victories they could manage over the Republic, so keeping something like this quite was incredibly out of character.

In an effort to counter the rise in surprise attack's on their ship's, several fleet's were being pulled together to act as a protective escort's for a supply convoy. Most notably General's Kenobi and Skywalker had supplied their fleet's to the effort. 

_'If General Skywalker's fleet is guarding the convoy, then that's where I'm headed.'_ He knew, feeling uneasy about this mystery weapon. He forwarded a copy of Admiral Yularen's report on to his second in command wanting his men to be fully prepared for anything.

His reading done for now, he set about cleaning and donning all of his equipment. His armour was scrubbed down and attached piece by piece, strap's and pouches checked for damage before being tightened down. His gauntlet knife and collapsible Vibrosword (An extra bit of kit that he had constructed with help from one of his men.) was sharpened and polished before being clipped to his wrist and belt respectively. His DC-15s and DC-17m, stripped, cleaned and reassembled then clipped to his right thigh and back. He filled his pouches and pack with a multitude of charge cell's, grenade's, a few tibana gas cartridge's, his rifle's other attachment's, and various medical supplies like bacta patches, stim's, and a small portable defibrillator.

All the while his lightsaber continued to float more and more steadily as he got increasingly comfortable with maintaining his focus.

Putting his helmet on and securing it, he quickly checked the Chrono in the corner of his HUD and figured that they should be arriving at the fleet fairly soon. Holding out his hand and carefully summoning the floating weapon to him, he returned it to the pouch over his heart and left the room wanting to see the fleet as they approached.

As he walked through the hall's heading towards the cockpit, other Clone's that he passed on the way stared and gave him a wide berth. Commando's weren't a very common sight and so most had only ever seen one a handful of time's. He didn't like the way that some seemed afraid of him, whether that be because of his slightly bigger build or his armour and weapon's he didn't know. And the awe that other's felt just made him feel uncomfortable.

The shuttle was fairly small and so it didn't take long for him to arrive at the door to the cockpit. Inputting his personal, high clearance security code, the door slid open and he walked forward to stand between the two Clone pilot's, both of whom looked up at him in surprise doing a double take when they realised what he was.

"Good evening gentlemen." He said trying his best to put the two at ease.

"Y-yes Sir, I mean, evening Sergeant." The one on the left stuttered.

"Evening Sergeant, what bring's you up here?" The one on the right said, clearly taking his sudden appearance better than his co-pilot.

"I figured we'd be reaching the fleet soon and I wanted to see it as we arrived." He explained honestly.

"You figured correctly Sir, we should be only a few minute's out by now." Right reported. "We were actually just about to inform the Captain when you showed up."

"I see. Well please, don't let me interrupt you." Help replied taking a step back to give them room to work. Left quickly contacted the ship's Captain using the internal comm's, and moment's later the Clone officer arrived.

"Lad's, Sergeant." The Captain said by way of greeting. "What's our ETA?" Neither pilot reacted to the Captain's curt greeting and so he assumed it was common for the man.

"We're now about to drop out of hyperspace Captain." Left reported, his nerve having returned to him fairly quickly once he'd gotten over his shock.

"Very good. Once we're in range contact the Resolute, let them know to send a crew down to help us unload the supplies." The Captain ordered comfortably, obviously very familiar with this routine.

"If I may Captain, would your men be able to let Captain Rex know to meet me in the hanger, tell him it's Help" He asked not wanting to assume and start ordering other people's men around, he knew that a lot of Clone Commander's and Captain's really didn't appreciate it.

"Of course Sergeant." The Captain confirmed, the pilot's having been listening all the while already knew what to do.

A few second's later the pilot's dropped the shuttle out of lightspeed and the stretched, swirling tunnel of star's collapsed returning them to pin prick's in the black veil of space. Ahead of them was General Skywalker's fleet, the three heavily armed Venator's of the 501st legion flanking a convoy of supply shuttle's and medical frigate's. The two pilot's were quick to hail the Resolute and when everything was explained to the deck officer they were given permission to land in the main hanger. The deck officer had assured them that a crew was waiting for them and that Captain Rex had been informed of his arrival.

"Excellent. Well I'm gonna head down to the ramp, thank you for the lift Captain, lad's." Help said gratefully receiving nod's in reply before leaving the cockpit.

It didn't take very long for them to enter the hanger and touch down aboard the Resolute, and a few minute's after they had done so the cabin went through decompression and the ramp began to lower. 

He saw a large number of Clone's and droid's milling about, some repairing and inspecting Y-wing's and other ship's. Other's were moving crate's of supplies. As he started walking down the ramp a small crew of trooper's walked past him heading into the shuttle, he guessed that they were the one's that had been sent to help unload the supplies. He watched them as they passed him, most of them also watching him in return. When he turned back to look at the bottom of the ramp he saw Captain Rex waiting for him, his helmet tucked under his arm and his back proudly straight.

When he reached the bottom of the ramp and came to a stop in front of the Captain he removed his own helmet, a good number of Clone's around the hanger turning to stare at him as he did so. Commando's almost never removed their helmet's in front of anyone other than their pod brother's, and so despite all Clone's having the same face they looked on fascinated. Their fascination was somewhat rewarded he knew, when he felt their collective surprise at the colour of his eye's and his hair style.

"Captain, it's good to see you again." Help said genuinely, a small smile coming onto both of their face's. 

"Help, sorry, Sergeant, it's been a while." The Captain replied, the both of them chuckling a little at his new rank.

"Yeah it has, that 'advanced training' turned out to be a little more advanced than I was expecting." He said gesturing to his Katarn armour. "I thought you were sending me to become a sniper, not a kriffing Commando." He continued jokingly, he knew that the Kaminoan's were the one's who had decided that not the Captain but he wanted to have a laugh.

"So did I Help, it suit's you though. Did you get bigger than me?" Rex asked sounding confused while measuring him up by eye. "And what the hell happened to your voice?"

He and Rex spent the next half an hour chatting and catching up. He told Rex all about arriving on back on Kamino and being sent to the Commando barrack's, about his training and injection's. He told him about how intimidating it was being a 'Reg' amongst all of those Commando's and how even now, most of them didn't consider him to be one of them. He spoke about being promoted to Sergeant and forming his own squad from the other squad less Commando's. He spoke about his injury and when the Captain asked where his men were he explained that they were inbound from Kamino and should be arriving any day now. And lastly he told Rex about the promised punishment and how it had turned from a boring escort mission into a live fire war game with the prize being Toydaria's allegiance.

"Wow, that's... Wow." Rex said, a little stunned.

"Yeah, a bit more exciting than I was expecting." He chuckled in reply.

In turn, the Captain spoke about what he and the 501st had been up to since the last time they had seen each other. There were various mission's and deployment's that sounded near suicidal but somehow always seemed to work out in the end.

"You get used to it after serving under General Skywalker for a while." Rex explained fondly.

Rex talked about Commander Tano and how well she was fitting in with the men. He quite passionately went on and on about how formidable she was proving to be in battle, and if Help had any doubt about the Captain's attraction the young Torgruta Jedi, it was dead now. 

"Hey, come back to me Captain, you're starting to drool." Help said snapping his finger's in front of the Captain's face humorously. Rex actually swiped at his chin thinking he might have really been drooling but when his hand came away dry the Captain glared at him prompting a loud laugh from him.

"I, you, just... Shut up." The Captain muttered slightly embarrassed but trying to appear stern. Help's loud laugh had drawn quite a lot of attention from the nearby Clone's.

_'I bet at least one man in here believed that Commando's couldn't laugh.'_ He thought with a little grin.

Once they had both calmed down again his smile slowly faded and he decided to discuss something more serious with the Captain.

"So tell me Captain, I read Yularen's report, what's the deal with this mystery weapon the Sep's have got?" He asked, the question bringing a grim set to the Captain's face.

"Honestly, we've got no idea." Rex said. "Shuttle's and frigate's are being caught completely by surprise and blown apart with no warning. So far there hasn't been a single survivor found." Somehow Rex's face had grown even more grim. "This convoy's here been set up to try and protect our supply line's, General Plo Koon and his fleet were dispatched to hunt down whatever it is that's attacking us. Last I heard General Plo's fleet had gone dark."

_'That's not good. Supply shuttle's and medical frigate's are one thing, but taking out an entire armed fleet is something else.'_ He thought with a frown.

"General Plo, he lead's the 104th right?" Help asked.

"Yeah, work's with Clone Commander Wolffe." Rex explained with a solemn look.

"I take it you're familiar with Wolffe, Captain." Help replied.

"A little. We've fought together a few time's in the past, he's a good man, a skilled Commander." The Captain said sadly, clearly believing that General Plo and his men were likely all dead.

"Try to keep a little hope Captain, us Clone's are hardy bastard's." He said trying to lighten the mood a little.

"Ha, yeah we are." Rex chuckled slightly raising his head and looking him in the eye again, his head having dropped with his mood. "Anyway, I've got duties to attend to so I'd best get back to it. Get yourself settled in Sergeant."

With that said, the Captain provided him with the number of the room where he and his squad were to be housed for the foreseeable future, and then turned and marched away returning to his responsibilities.

Help walked over to a nearby crate and took a seat wanting to watch his brother's go about their work while he gathered his thought's. He wasn't able to sit for very long however as he felt a slight pull in his gut. 

Looking over to where it was guiding him, he saw General Skywalker and a depressed looking Commander Tano walking over to a battered looking ship that he recognised as the one the General had flown away in during the mission on Teth. Choosing to follow the pull, he stood and walked over to them, catching them as they were about to board the ship.

"General Skywalker, Commander Tano." He said, his helmet still tucked under his arm. The two Jedi seemed confused for a moment trying to remember who he was, eventually he felt recognition coming from them through the Force.

"I remember you, from Teth right?" Skywalker said. "You were the one who was following Rex around." Being remembered for that was slightly embarrassing but Help pushed past it.

"Yes Sir, name's Help. Sergeant Help now." He politely reminded the Jedi despite still not being overly fond of the how the knight felt, the swirling cloud of repressed emotion feeling dark and dangerous.

"I see. I'm guessing that Rex sent for you." Skywalker said.

"Yes Sir, I've been assigned to the 501st by the Captain's request." He explained. 

"That's great! It's good to have you back." Commander Tano said sincerely, her mood perking up a little bit. He guessed that she was still rather grateful to him for catching her when she fell on Teth.

"It's good to be back Commander." He replied, smiling at the young Jedi. "But enough about me, what are you two up to?" He asked nonchalantly, he didn't want to come across as suspicious.

For a brief moment Skywalker looked insulted that a Clone had question him but he managed to catch himself fairly quickly.

"Ahsoka and I are taking the Twilight to scout ahead of the fleet." The General said. Help got the distinct feeling that this was not entirely true and chose to question it.

"I see. You know I just heard that General Plo Koon's fleet was tracking this mystery weapon that the Sep's have built, but they've gone silent." He saw how Commander Tano's face fell at the mention of General Plo's and guessed that she knew him personally. "There are a hundred ship's here that are better suited for scouting than this rust bucket, she might be put to better use looking for General Plo." He said.

"That's what I thought, but we've been ordered to stay with the fleet." The Commander said dejectedly. Help managed to catch the tiny burst's of deception and guilt coming from the General and knew immediately what was going on.

"I see." He replied slowly before turning to Skywalker. "You know General, trust is a two way street. It's cruel to mislead her." 

Skywalker seized and looked baffled for a moment, clearly wondering how he knew before he sighed and nodded.

"I don't know how you guessed it Sergeant, but you're right." The General admitted reluctantly. "Ahsoka, I needed everyone else to believe that we were going to be following order's so that we could go and look for Master Plo." Skywalker explained prompting a look of shock and then joy from the Torgruta.

"Seriously! Then what are we waiting for, let's go!" She said a bit loudly looking like the admission had filled her with new purpose.

"Ahsoka keep your voice down!" The General whisper shouted. "This is exactly why I wasn't going to tell you until we got there." The chastisement got her to settle a little but she still looked too pumped up to really care.

"Sorry Master." She said, not sounding very sorry.

"General I'd like to offer my assistance if I may." Help said to a look of confusion from the General. "Until my squad arrives from Kamino I've got next to nothing to do around here, and searching for a missing Jedi and his Battalion is as good a reason to disobey order's as any." He explained.

"You know what, sure, but can we just get going now." Skywalker replied sounding a little tired and a little irritated.

With that decided, the three of them plus a little blue astromech (R2D2 if he remembered correctly.) boarded the Twilight and took off, plotting a course for the Abregado system and made the jump to lightspeed.

  
**Ahsoka POV:**

  
_'We're coming Master Plo, just hold on.'_ She thought determinedly, staring out of the front viewport at the swirling tunnel of star's.

From the moment she had learned that Master Plo's fleet was not responding and that they all we're presumed dead, she had been determined to fly out and try to find him. The Kel Dor Jedi Master was like a father to her, he was the one who had found her and brought her to the Jedi temple in the first place, and she refused to believe that he was dead until she could see his body for herself.

But when both the Jedi Council and the Chancellor had ordered her and Skyguy to stay with the fleet, effectively giving up on Master Plo, despair had quickly started filling her. That despair had then clashed with defiance and anger, leading her to argue with them all and upset her Master. She couldn't stand the thought of abandoning Master Plo, but she was a Jedi and she would follow her Master's order's. No matter how much they hurt.

As her Master was leading her towards the Twilight so that they could 'scout ahead', she had been ready to sit quietly and sulk in her sadness while he did all the work. But when the Commando had come over and caught them before they could board, her determination and joy had quickly returned. 

The Shinie young Clone trooper who had saved her on Teth and who Rex's had unofficially taken under his wing, had returned more than half a year later and much seems to have changed. He was a little bigger than all of the Clone's that she knew, an inch or so taller and more muscular, and his armour and weapon's were obviously vastly superior to the more standard issue stuff.

But beneath all of the armour and added muscle, she could tell that the now Sergeant still lived up to his name just as much as he had when they had first met him on Christophsis. There was a kindness to him, a warm glowing light that she could just barely feel through the Force, a caring nature that didn't stifle or coddle. He felt like a guardian to her, protective and more than willing to help you if he deemed you worthy of it.

When he had walked over to them, he must have been able to see her sadness right away and had wanted to help. He had been somehow been able to figure out over the course of a single conversation, that she was upset about Master Plo, and had managed to figured out what Skyguy was really up to. She found that she couldn't really put into word's just how grateful she is to him for encouraging her Master to tell her the truth.

_'You know General, trust is a two way street. It's cruel to mislead her.'_ She remembered him saying to her Master. 

Help was still just as strange as he was when they had last seen him, perhaps even more so now, but there was an peculiar feeling to him as well. He had a kindness and well worded wisdom that distinctly set him apart from the other Clone's.

Looking back over her shoulder from the co-pilot's seat, she saw the Clone in question sitting quietly behind her. His helmet sat in his lap leaving his face exposed, his red and blue eye's hidden while the Commando appeared to be... Meditating?

_'I remember making a joke about him perhaps being a Jedi when we were looking for Stinky, but a Clone meditating is really weird.'_ She thought, feeling her eyebrow marking's pinch together and rise in surprise and confusion.

Help's left hand was resting protectively, lightly gripping a black pouch over his heart, and his eye's were shifting slightly beneath their shutter's as though looking for something. His face, marked by a collection of barely there scar's around his right eye, caused her mind to briefly wander off thinking about another Fett Clone. 

_'Rex.'_ She thought with a smile.

Rex's handsome face, confident posture, close cropped blonde hair and fit muscular body. Everything about Rex drew her in and excite her in way's that she knew she shouldn't allow. Over the month's that they had been fighting together so far, her feeling's for the Clone Captain had shifted from mere physical appreciation, to a deep respect and more personal attraction.

She and Rex had almost made it an unspoken game between them to lightly flirt with each other from time to time. But she was finding it harder and harder to tell what was part of the game and what was real.

She was drawn from her thought's as the Twilight dropped out of hyperspace and arrived in the Abregado system, the last known coordinate's of Master Plo's fleet. 

Despite having been expecting it, what she saw upon looking back out of the view port was still a shock. A terrifying and devastating shock.

What little remained of Master Plo's fleet of cruiser's floated weightlessly in front of them, blown apart and sparking all around them, every single ship destroyed. The frozen and suffocated bodies of trooper's and crew member's occasionally drifted by, their lifeless eye's and helmeted head's staring off into nothing.

_'By the Force'_ She mentally choked out, feeling bile trying to rise up in her throat, barely managing to swallow it back down.

"Not dead brother's, simply marching far away." She heard Help mutter from behind her solemnly. When she turned back to look at him, she could clearly see his emotion's through his eye's. The red one seemed to burn angrily, promising vengeance, while the blue one dimmed with loss and grief.

She was just about to open her mouth, maybe try to utter some form of comfort or apology to the Commando, when her Master spoke first.

"R2, boost the scanner's and search for lifeform's." He ordered. 

Looking at him, she couldn't tell whether any of this was upsetting him or not. He looked like he normally did on mission's, no reaction and seemingly desensitised to all of the death around him.

_'I know that we're in a war and that we have to deal with death on a daily basis, but still he could try and show a little sympathy.'_ She thought, slightly upset at her Master.

At Anakin's order, Sergeant Help seemed to snap out of his mourning and turned away from the view port, no longer glaring out at the floating remains' of the 104th battalion.

"General, with all of this debris and the dead out there, your scanner's are gonna have a hard time picking up on anything." The Commando said calmly, the sadness in his strangely deep voice replaced now by determination.

"That may be true Sergeant, but what else would you recommend we do?" Her Master asked, his tone of voice making it clear that he didn't truly expect an answer. Help seemed to have one anyway.

"Use the Force." He said plainly as if it explained everything and solved all of their problem's.

For a long moment she and Anakin were stunned silent. It was incredibly rare for a Clone to even mention the Force outside of the occasional grumbling and joking about 'Jedi voodoo'. This Clone however was serious and appeared to genuinely believe that they could use the Force to solve this.

_'I don't think the Force work's that way, but he doesn't know that I guess. I sometimes forget that most people don't understand the Force at all, some don't even believe it's real.'_ She thought to herself, not wanting to speak out loud and embarrass him.

Her Master however didn't share her tact and failed to keep his thought's to himself.

"Use the Force?" He repeated slightly condescendingly, the weird and unprovoked tension between the two that had appeared on Teth still apparent. "And how exactly would the Force help us here Sergeant? Please share your extensive knowledge of our teaching's."

_'That was... kinda harsh.'_ she thought with a wince. 

She knew that her Master was not a fan of being talked back to and undermined by other people, and he probably saw Help as a threat to his command somehow. That and a Clone talking about the Force like he understood it probably irritated his pride in being a Jedi.

Surprisingly the Sergeant didn't look even a little upset or embarrassed at the mocking and snappish way her Master was talking to him.

"The Force is not just some power you Jedi have, it's not only about lifting rock's and meditating." Help began calmly and continued before either of them could retort. "It's an energy field created by all living thing's, it surround's and bind's the galaxy together like a network."

Once again they were stunned silent, staring wide eyed at the wise sounding Clone Commando.

_'How does he know that?'_ She questioned silently, her mouth not quite able to keep up with her stunned brain.

"Created by all living thing's." Help stressed slowly, unbothered by their shock. "Don't bother using the ship's scanner's General, be the scanner. Reach out Jedi, and find them. All of them, anyone who managed to survive this... Massacre." With that said, the Sergeant turned around to face the console beside his seat and began inputting command's.

_'He's... He's right, why didn't we think of that?'_ She thought, feeling both embarrassed and ashamed that neither her or her Master had truly thought about the thing they had been training their whole lives to master. _'We're Jedi for Force sake, we're specifically trained to understand it.'_

"I, well, I guess- wait a minute, how do you know all of that?" Her Master stuttered in surprise before his tone turned slightly suspicious, and his eye's narrowed staring at the back of Help's head.

"I just arrived at the Resolute a few hour's ago, not that long before catching you two. I'd received my deployment order's during a return journey to Coruscant with General Yoda, following a surprisingly eventful alliance negotiation with King Kutuunko of Toydaria." Help explained casually, not once looking up from the terminal. "The man's more than happy to teach so long as you're willing to ask the right question's and listen."

Anakin looked a little placated by Help's answer and while she and her Master were trying to get rid of their shock, Help turned to R2.

"Hey blue, can you calibrate the scanner's for droid's." R2's dome like head spun to face the Commando as his control spike connected to the interface at the back of the cockpit. "There's been no reported survivor's from any of the previous attack's, so I reckon it's safe to assume that the Sep's have been sending out hunter's to destroy any surviving men or pod's. To keep their new toy secret by killing any witnesses." He explained bitterly, the death and destruction they were navigating weighing on them all.

R2 gave a sad whine before beeping resolutely and turning to face the wall while his control spike spun, adjusting the scanner's as asked.

Her Master was still caught off guard like she was, and perhaps still suspicious, but Master Plo was out there somewhere amongst the wreckage and death, so she forced her mind to focus back on task and turned to speak to Anakin.

"Come on Master, if Master Plo is out there, we should be able to find him in no time." She said eagerly with a grin, the cockiness coming easily and helping to relieve some of the tension. It didn't take long for her Master to start to grin as well. "We need to find our boy's now before the tinnie's do."

"You're right Snips." Anakin said in agreement, turning in his chair to face the view port instead of the Sergeant. "Okay Ahsoka, calm your mind and concentrate, we'll find any survivor's faster if we search together." He then closed his eye's and reached out his hand, using the Force to begin searching for any sign's of life. 

She followed suit and reached out, initially struggling to push through the heavy fog of death and despair that surround them, before she felt a barely there nudge of calm and encouragement wash over her from somewhere. She didn't stop to think about it for too long before beginning her search, looking for any minute flicker's of life.

_'Come on, come on.'_ She thought desperately. _'There has to be someone still alive out-, There!'_ She exclaimed in her head excitedly, seeing a small pocket of light flickering in the distance through the Force.

Her Master must have felt it too as he quickly flew them over to it without prompting. 

What they found was a Republic escape pod that was in the middle of being crushed by a clamp like Separatist pod hunter, just like Help had suspected. 4 battle droid's armed with blaster rifle's and plasma cutter's were magnetised to the hull, ready to gun down the men inside once the pod was compromised.

"What do we do Master?" She asked eager to save them. "We can't use the ship's cannon's, we'll just end up destroying the pod too."

"We also can't go out there." Her Master grumbled with a frown, trying to come up with something. "I still haven't gotten any space suit's stocked onboard." He admitted sounding irritated with himself.

The pod hunter began to apply more pressure and burst's of pressurised air started to escape from the pod. It wouldn't take long for the droid's to cut through the viewport and gun down the men inside. 

While she and her Master rushed to come up with some way to stop them, the Sergeant beat them too it. He stood quickly and slid his painted helmet on, a whisper quiet hiss signalling the suit becoming airtight. Once all of his armour's system's were set, the Commando turned to them and spoke, the glowing blue visor staring back at them.

_'Those stripe's on his chin look familiar.'_ She mused faintly.

As he started to leave the cockpit, his stride's deliberate and determined, the kind and friendly Clone was gone and in his place stood the Commando who wanted to spill droid blood for his brother's. 

"My armour is airtight and pressurised General." Help announced. "Turn around and prep the tow cable Sir, I'll take care of the droid's." His voice took on a slightly dark tone towards the end, which was understandable given what the droid's were designed to do.

Despite a tiny twitch of annoyance at being given order's, something that happens regardless of who's giving them, her Master didn't complain and quickly spun the ship around, aiming the rear port at the escape pod.

"Go with him Snip's." Her Master ordered, still focusing on the control's. "guide the pod in and help the survivor's."

"You got it!" She replied eagerly, happy to finally be able to do something.

Leaping from her seat, she ran though to the cargo hold, chasing after the Sergeant. When she caught up to him he was already in the hold, clipping a long length of cable to his armour's harness and backing up ready to sprint.

"What your plan?" She asked, curious to know how the Commando planned to deal with all of the droid's on his own.

"Scrap them all." Was his simple reply.

After checking one last time that the cable was secure and his weapon's were all prepped, Help took off at a sprint and drove out of the back of the hold, aiming to fly straight towards the droid's on top of the pod hunter.

She watched as his momentum carried him over to the unsuspecting droid's. Just before he got to them he reached down to his left hip and unclipped what looked like a hilt from his belt.

_'What is that?'_ She wondered confused. It looked a little like a lightsaber hilt only a more blocky and instead of an activator button, it had a single finger trigger on the front where his index finger rested.

She got her answer a second later when he flicked the trigger with his fore-finger and a long, curved single edged metal blade sprung from the handle in several part's that formed seamlessly into one solid length. Almost as soon as the blade was formed, the Sergeant spun himself and swung a horizontal sweep, cleaving 2 battle droid's clean in half as he shot past them.

She was so stunned that all she could think to do was whisper out a quick 'Whoa' before focusing back on the rescue mission.

She saw Help squeeze the trigger again, for a whole second this time, and the blade collapsed into the hilt again. She guessed that it was a safety mechanism to avoid the blade disappearing in battle because of accidental brushes. He quickly clipped the hilt back to his belt and reached out, grabbing onto his cable and pulling himself back towards the pod crusher. Once close, he must have magnetised his boot's because he stuck to the droid ship's surface and crouched, drawing his blaster pistol from his thigh and destroying the remaining droid's. 

Even from here she could see the Clone's inside the pod cheering and shouting crudely at the droid's bodies.

She heard a very brief crackling before Help's voice sounded over the Twilight's internal comm's system.

**"threat's neutralised. Confirm Republic survivor's onboard. We're ready for towing Sir."** He reported calmly, not sounding even a little out of breath.

**"Copy that Sergeant."** Her Master replied over the comm's too. **"Go ahead and bring them in Snips."** He encouraged.

With the press of a button the tow cable was launched and attached to the escape pod, pressing another the cable began to retract and the pod and Help were being pulled back into the cargo hold, dropping to the floor once they passed the shield. The Sergeant wasted no time and quickly jumped from the top of the pod and began trying to pry the front open. Moving up next to him, she used the Force to rip the viewport off and the men inside stumbled out, some coughing and spluttering, other's collapsing in relief.

While the Sergeant and the Twilight's medical droid moved between them, she took a moment to observe the new arrival's. 

There were 6 of them who came from the pod, 2 were Clone deck officer's and the other 4 were Trooper's. The Trooper's wore standard phase 1 Clone armour that was painted with various grey pattern's and wolf's symbol's. None of them were of high rank but she knew exactly who these Clone were.

_'Master Plo's men, the Wolffe pack.'_ She knew. 

"Commander Tano, you might want to get back to General Skywalker and help him search again." Help said to her, still moving between the men and checking them over. "We can look after these guy's, you still need to find General Plo and Commander Wolffe."

"I saw them get into the pod next to our before launch." One of the rescued Clone trooper's reported tiredly. "The General, the Commander, Boost and Sinker."

"Right!" She exclaimed starting to sprint back to the cockpit, her hope's renewed knowing that Master Plo did manage to get to an escape pod. Just before she was about to leave the hold, Help called out to her again.

"Hope Commander." He said without looking at her. He must have known that she was confused because he carried on calmly. "Hope has been and always will be the brightest beacon of light in the galaxy. If he hope's you will find him and you do the same, it will cast a light bright enough to see."

For what felt like the hundredth time since his return, she found herself baffled by this strange Clone Commando. He sometimes spoke like a Jedi would, wisdom and knowledge coming from him in small doses. But he was also a warrior driven by emotion and determination. 

Despite her confusion, the Sergeant's word's filled her with comfort, she felt more sure than ever that they would find Master Plo alive and rescue him.

_'Hope will always be the brightest beacon of light in the galaxy.'_ She repeated in her mind like a mantra as she ran back to the cockpit, determination burning in her eye's.

  
**Help's POV:**

  
_'Where in the nine Corellian hell's did that come from?'_ He wondered. _'I'm even starting to talk like a Jedi now.'_ He lightly shook his head choosing to think more about it later after they'd returned to the fleet. For now thought, he had something else to deal with.

"Brother's, if there's anything still in the pod that you want to grab, do so now." He advised going on to explain that they will need to jettison it in order to make room for the next one should they find anymore survivor's.

"Yes Sir." One of the 104th trooper's said crisply, having an unknown commando Sergeant in front of him causing him to fall back on protocol and standard procedure. Help figured that right now, with everything that had happened to them, that these men would be grateful to have some sense of normality and structure to fall back on, and so he chose not to ask them to cut the formalities. He could feel a small amount of relief and comfort coming from them all at his silent nod.

The 6 rescued Clone's quickly began to rummage around in the pod, gathering everything of value from inside. After barely a minute, they stepped back out of the pod with a blaster rifle for each of the 4 trooper's, and some ration bar's. None of them had any personal belonging's, almost none of their kind did, a fact that greatly saddened him.

_'Belonging's and memories are a reflection of a person's life, they tell his story and show his character.'_ He thought sadly. _'What does a total lack of belonging's say about us'._ Turning away from his sad musing's about his brother's, he focused back on looking after them.

"You might as well eat those now." He said pointing to the ration bar's. "Once we've done all we can here, we'll be returning to General Skywalker's fleet and you can get a proper meal in you". As they all sat down to eat and clean their weapon's, the mind numbing task helping to calm their nerve's, he spoke to them all, getting them all caught up on the situation since the destruction of their fleet.

He told them of the supply convoy and the fleet's that were being assigned to guard it. He spoke to them about what the Republic's plan seemed to be going forward, and in return, they told him what they could about the Separatist's new weapon.

_'An EMP like weapon huh... That explains a lot.'_ He thought, feeling a frown crease his face, pulling at the faint scar's around his eye. 

"Hey Sir?" The same trooper from before said quietly, almost tentatively as the other's continued to eat and prepare their blaster's just in case of attack. "Do you really think anyone else survived?" He asked, his tone of voice and posture making it clear that he didn't want to risk having hope.

_'Seeing this carnage was heart breaking for me, I can't even begin to imagine how difficult it must be for them.'_ He thought sympathetically. _'These brother's have just lost their closest friend's and family'._

"You boy's are the first we've managed to find vode." Help began evenly. "I have faith that you won't be the last." He wanted to raise the men's spirit's, but he wasn't about to lie and give them false hope. He told them his belief's and nothing more.

The Twilight continued to search the wreckage for another hour, the Jedi using the Force to feel for life sign's, and the Clone's and R2 unit using the ship's scanner's to look for distress signal's and droid's. 

Through their combined effort's they managed to locate and recover a second pod was beginning to lose power, luckily they hadn't been found by the pod hunter's so all they had to do was tow them in. The pod contained a further 4 trooper's, all of whom were seen to by himself and the medical droid and then left in the care of the other men of the 104th. 

Despite their best effort's however, they had yet to find General Plo or Commander Wolffe.

"Look after them Doc and stick around, we might need you again soon." He ordered the medical droid who was currently waiting nearby.

"That is my programming Sir." The droid replied dryly in it's emotionless, synthetic voice.

_'What a comforting voice for a medic.'_ He thought sarcastically.

"I'm gonna go check in with the Jedi, brother's." He announced as he started towards the cockpit, receiving absent nod's of acknowledgement from them while they all focused on a monitor in the hold.

When he reached the cockpit, the General was busy piloting around the debris field, doing his best to search for survivor's and keep them from crashing at the same time. The Commander meanwhile was sitting in the co-pilot's seat cross-legged, her eye's closed as she reached out through the Force looking for General Plo. 

Help's abilities were still forming, but he tried his best to send a subtle, almost unnoticeable push of encouragement to her through the Force. His empathetic abilities were far more practiced and he could feel her frustration ebb just a little in response.

Their search was interrupted however by an alert coming from the ship's control's. 

"Incoming transmission Master, look's like someone noticed we were gone." Commander Tano said sounding a little like a cadet who'd been caught sneaking extra ration's back to his bunk for a midnight snack.

General Skywalker just gave her a rueful smile before accepting the transmission, and a second later a small blue hologram of General Kenobi appeared. The famous Jedi negotiator looked much the same as he had on Teth except now he looked slightly irritated as he sighed out a question that he guessed had been asked by the man a thousand time's before.

**"Anakin, where are you?."** Kenobi asked tiredly.

"Oh, uhh, hello Master, we decided to make a quick stop in the Abregado system." Skywalker answered, unable to come up with any sort of cover on the spot.

_'Brilliant response from a man so well versed in disobeying order's.'_ Help thought slightly amused as he moved over to his seat behind the Commander.

**"A rescue mission I suppose. You had other order's."** General Kenobi drawled, crossing his arm's as he starred at Skywalker and Tano like a parent scolding his children, all the while knowing that it likely wouldn't change anything at all.

"It was my idea Master Kenobi." Commander Tano said guiltily, trying to take the blame.

**"Oh I'm sure."** Kenobi muttered sarcastically with a raised brow and a grin, not believing that for a moment, before turning back to General Skywalker. **"Well have you at least found any survivor's?"** He asked curiously.

"Actually Master, yes we have." Skywalker replied with a note of smug satisfaction, enjoying one-upping his old Master he guessed. 

Help decided to speak up and fill the 3 Jedi in on the survivor's condition's.

"General Skywalker, if I may?" He asked receiving a nod in reply. "General Kenobi, it's nice to see you again Sir." Seeing the General's confusion, he briefly explained who he was and that they had met on Teth while fighting Ventress. Help was pleased to see a glimmer of recognition as the General remembered his name.

**"Ah yes, I remember. If I recall correctly you got rather personal with a certain assassin."** Kenobi said with a teasing grin, remembering him calling Ventress beautiful during their fight and basically hugging her.

"And I still stand by my belief's General." He replied to a chuckle from Kenobi. "But back to business Sir. So far we have managed to successfully recover 8 trooper's and 2 Clone deck officer's from General Plo's fleet... Or what remains' of it anyway." He continued upon seeing the General's focus on him. "From what the men could tell me, the Sep's seem to have some sort of energy based weapon, like an directional EMP. Apparently it knocked out all power to the General's cruiser's and left them completely defenceless. They've also been deploying squad's of pod hunter's to kill any survivor's and witnesses."

Kenobi looked away and stroked his chin in thought. 

**"This is most troubling. It is good that we finally know what we're up against, but I worry that it won't do us much good. A weapon of this calibre will be difficult to fight against."** He finally said with a prominent frown. **"Thank you Sergeant, your report will prove most valuable."** Help gave a silent nod in reply. **"Anakin, if Master Plo is infact still alive out there, you must find him quickly, your absence has been noted."** The General added in warning.

"Understood Master, we'll be back in time for the rendezvous." Skywalker answered seriously.

With that said, the transmission ended and Kenobi's hologram flickered out. Skywalker and Tano then began focusing once again, searching through the Force for any survivor's.

After a few minute's of blind searching, the General's blue R2 unit started beeping excitedly and turned it's head, projecting a hologram of the destroyed fleet with a pulsating red sphere in the centre.

"Artooie say's he's picking up a faint signal on the emergency channel!" The Commander explained happily, hoping that it was General Plo no doubt.

"Can he trace it?" Skywalker asked.

Help knelt down next to the little droid and inspected the hologram for a moment before responding.

"It doesn't look like he can get an exact location General, there's just too much debris, it's creating interference." He explained. "But he's got the general area that the signal's coming from, that at least narrow's it down."

"Good enough." The General said as he turned to face the Commander. "Ok Snips, let's focus on that area and see if we can't find something." He ordered, closing his eye's and reaching out through the Force.

"You got it Master!" The Commander replied eagerly doing the same.

With a rough area to focus on, it took the two Jedi no time at all to latch on to a small collection of life form's just on the edge of the R2 unit's estimation's. The General quickly guided the ship over to it, and when they arrived they saw yet another Republic escape pod that was in the middle of being crushed by a Separatist pod hunter just like the first one they had found. 

A squad of battle droid's stood magnetised to the hull of the pod hunter and were trading shot's with the occupant's of the pod. Atop the pod, 2 grey painted Clone trooper's and a Kel Dor Jedi fought back against the droid's, firing back at them and using a blue lightsaber to deflect red blaster bolt's off into space. 

"Master Plo!" The Commander exclaimed happily, confirming the Jedi's identity.

Help knew that the standard issue phase 1 armour given to all Clone trooper's offered some protection from the extreme pressure of space, as well as the helmet acting as a rebreather/air filter, but the Jedi didn't have any of that. He assumed from a glance that the Jedi was using the Force in some way to withstand the pressure, and the face mask was allowing him to breath, but he didn't think it would last for very long. 

_'We need to get him inside before the pressure get's to him.'_ He thought.

"Look's like we got here just in time." Skywalker said relieved. "Now we've just gotta deal with those droid's."

"General?" Help said getting Skywalker's attention. "Same as before?" He asked, referring to how they rescued the first pod full of survivor's.

"Let's do it Sergeant." The General replied, nodding in confirmation.

Help doubted that the two of them would ever be friendly, the General's Force presence was just too off putting to him, but at least they could get along for the sake of the mission. A good thing too given the fact that they would be working together for the foreseeable future.

Wasting no time, Help rushed back through to the hold and reopened the hatch. As he was assessing the situation and deciding the best course of action, the other Clone trooper's on board walked over to him. He noticed that they gave him quite a lot of space, his size and armour obviously intimidating them like it had him when he first saw the other Commando's on Kamino.

"What's going on Sir?" The Clone from before asked him tensely, on edge and expecting another attack.

_'Hopefully this'll cheer them all up a little.'_ He thought with a smile hidden behind his helmet.

"Your General and some brother's are just outside." He said prompting cheer's and smile's from the tired Clone's. "They seem to be struggling with a squad of clanker's though, so I figured we'd give 'em a hand." He continued with a chuckle.

The reaction was instantaneous as 4 of the trooper's loaded their blaster's and stood to attention, ready to help their friend's and family.

"Just tell us where you need us Sarge." The 104th trooper said determinedly, the other 3 mirroring his countenance.

"Follow me." Help ordered simply.

As soon as Skywalker had manoeuvred the Twilight into position, Help arranged the 4 trooper's right up against the hold's shield's and had them push just the barrel's of their blaster's out into space. His own blaster wasn't ideal for this kind of move, and besides, 4 men seemed like enough, so he merely stood to the side and gave the order's. 

It was clearly a little awkward for the men, the vacuum of space trying to pull the blaster's out of their hand's making it difficult to aim properly, but Fett Clone's are nothing if not adaptable so they quickly managed to make it work.

The rear of the Twilight was facing the pod and pod hunter side on, their was little risk of hitting their own men but still, they had to be careful.

"Take aim!" He ordered.

"Ready Sir!" They responded as one, shifting their blaster's to target one of the battle droid's each.

"Open fire!" He commanded loudly.

General Plo and his men outside were busy trying to defend against the attacking squad of droid's, the Jedi deflecting blaster bolt's away while his men tried in vain to hit their better positioned attacker's. The droid's were so focused on eradicating the pod's occupant's that they barely even noticed the Twilight before it was too late. 

The blackness of space lit up with the blue glow of Republic blaster fire as the men aboard the Twilight followed his command. Many of the initial shot's flew wide or struck the pod hunter instead of the battle droid's, but the men quickly readjusted and fired again, this time with result's.

The droid's never stood a chance as the shot's struck them.

Soon bit's and piece's of sparking chassis and motor oil were floating every which way, face plate's staring off into nothing. As soon as he was confident that the threat was neutralised, he nodded to the men at the nearby console and they used the tow cable to pull the General's pod and all of it's occupant's in. 

It had barely touched the floor when Skywalker and Tano came running in, eager to check on General Plo. Skywalker did managed to spare him a few word's as he passed him though.

"Nicely done Sergeant." The General said sincerely before moving over to help the other General who had just collapsed, slumped against the side of the pod. He assumed that the pressure had finally gotten to him and knew that the Jedi would need to get to the med bay aboard a cruiser for proper treatment.

"I can't rightly take any of the credit General, the Wolffe pack are damn fine shot's." He replied seeing one or two of the men puffing their chest's out a little in response from the corner of his eye.

He knew that because of his rank and the fact that he was now a Commando, combined with his action's earlier, the men looked up to him a little. It was close to hero worship, something that made him feel very uncomfortable but he knew that it wasn't likely to stop any time soon. He also knew that because of this, his praise meant a good deal to them.

_'I'd rather they didn't idolise me, but so long as they do, I have a responsibility to encourage and inspire them to be the best they can be.'_ He thought with reluctant acceptance.

Quickly shaking off his thought's, he went through the motion's, checking over the new arrival's and seeing them feed and cared for. He left gathering name's and establishing order to Commander Wolffe who stood in front of his men in a Clone officer's uniform, checking on them. 

Taking a look around he saw that the pod had brought General Plo, Wolffe, and 2 more Wolffe pack Clone trooper's onboard, all of whom needed bed rest to recover but other than that, they seemed well.

While the Jedi spoke amongst themselves, Help waited for Wolffe to become available before walking over to talk to him for the first time.

"Commander Wolffe, I'm glad we found you, Captain Rex was starting to get upset." He started with a small laugh as he removed his helmet, fully expecting and prepared for the slightly wide eyed staring that followed. Wolffe seemed to recover quickly though.

_'I foresee staring happening a lot in my life.'_ He lamented ruefully.

"Ah Sergeant, I believe I have you to thank for saving so many of my men." The Clone Commander said stoically. "You very much have my gratitude Commando."

Help got the feeling that Wolffe was a no nonsense kind of soldier. When he reached out with the Force to feel the man spirit, what came back was an iron will and an unbending, steadfast resolve and loyalty to his battalion. An alpha wolf leading his pack just like their nickname suggested.

"Vode an Commander." Help replied, effectively dismissing the need to thank him.

"Vode an Sergeant." Wolffe replied in kind with a nod, the mando'a phrase rolling off their tongue's easily.

Taking that as a natural stopping point, the Commander then turned back around to continue seeing to his men again, and Help followed after the 3 Jedi as they began to walk to the cockpit together. He caught up with them just as they entered and General Plo started talking.

"We had tracked the weapon to this system where we were unfortunate enough to discovered it to be an ion cannon" The Kel Dor said grimly, his voice had a strangely calming synthetic monotone to it because of the facemask.

"I'd spoken to some of your men before we found you General." Help spoke up drawing the Jedi Master's attention. "I'd figured that it was some type of EMP device, but an ion cannon is just as bad, if not worse."

"Indeed Sergeant, the weapon proved to be devastatingly effective against our cruiser's." General Plo replied, his covered eye's staring intently at his own mismatched one's, his own face still exposed as he held his helmet under his arm.

"An... Ion cannon?" Commander Tano asked sounding confused, taking the Jedi Master's attention back off of him.

"A weapon that neutralises all power to our ship's, leaving the target's defenceless." General Plo explained darkly, recounting his own recent experience with it.

"My second in command would be able to explain it better than I can, but from what I can remember, where EMP's emit a powerful magnetic pulse to disable electronic device's, ion weapon's actually fire concentrated burst's of charged particle's to overload system's." Seeing that he had their focus he kept going. "The most common ion weapon's I can think of are droid disrupter's, small personal defence pistol's that can temporarily short out electronics'." He heard the R2 unit whimper a little at that. "Those only discharge a small concentrated electrical charge though. For one to be able to knock out 3 Venator class cruiser's with single shot, it would be like creating an entire storm cloud and firing it right at you."

"No way." Commander Tano muttered in disbelief.

"The amount of power needed to charge something like that would have to be... enormous." General Skywalker added with a frown, trying to imagine how such a thing could possibly work.

The console at Help's side began to blare out warningly, drawing all of the attention's. A quick inspection of the screen set him on edge immediately.

"Speak of the devil General." He muttered darkly. "A massive vessel is now approaching."

Before he could even finish speaking, General Plo was rushing forward and flipping switch's, killing the power all over the Twilight.

"Quickly, shut down all the power system's before they detect us!" The Jedi Master ordered sharply, frantically even.

Given that the General was the only one among the 4 present that had 1st hand contact with the Separatist's ion cannon, Help rushed to do as the man ordered, quickly powering down his armour's system's and shield's. Dropping his helmet to the floor, he knew that without the HUD it would be more of a determent than a boon, he knelt beside the R2 unit and reached for it's power switch.

"Sorry little buddy." He said apologetically as the droid powered down, before standing to re-join the 3 Jedi at the front viewport.

They all watched on in awe and a healthy measure of fear as a truly gargantuan Separatist ship shot into view right in front of them. Taking a long sweeping glance from bow the stern, he couldn't even begin to guess at how big it really was, or how many turbo laser's lined it's hull. The only thing he could guess at was that, given the massive dish shaped object on it's side, this entire ship was the ion cannon.

_'It has to be that big just to power the damned thing.'_ He thought astonished and disgusted at the scale of it.

"That is one big cruiser crusher." Commander Tano muttered with wide eye's.

"You can say that again Commander." Help muttered back, also still staring at the monster ship as it passed them by.

The super weapon continued to sail by slowly, the sluggishness of it movement only serving to make it seem even more intimidating. The shadow it cast as it blocked their view of the Abregado system's red sun cast the wreckage's of General's Plo's fleet into total darkness.

Help doubted that they had returned to the scene of a massacre they had caused to gloat, all evidence suggested that they were trying their hardest to keep their weapon a secret, so he had to wonder why they had come back. 

_'They already knew that the fleet was destroyed before they had left the system, and there's nothing of notable value here besides what could possibly be scavenged from the wreckage, so what is it? What are they searching for?'_ He questioned internally.

A second later it hit him.

"The pod hunter's." He said aloud in realisation, drawing the attention of the other's.

"What about them?" Commander Tano asked confused.

"That ship must have been controlling the pod hunter's and noticed when they went offline, maybe even received footage of us scrapping them." He saw the dawning realisation on their face's. "They have to know that someone was here, destroying their droid's. They likely suspect we're still here, they just can't find us yet."

"I agreed with the Sergeant." General Plo said evenly. "Skywalker, it's time to leave."

"Little problem with that Master, that eyesore is still right there, and I don't like our chance's if that thing target's us." General Skywalker replied, still staring out at the monstrous super cruiser.

"So long as we don't do anything, they shouldn't spot us right?" Commander Tano asked hopefully.

"Provided we fully powered down everything and we're not giving off any detectable signal's, but I feel like we've forgotten... Something..." Help replied, suddenly realising what it was just as he finished speaking.

Before he had a chance to do anything about it the super cruiser began to turn, it's broadside pointing directly at them.

"Oh no." He groaned flatly.

"They've turned back!" General Skywalker announced.

"Are all the system's shut down?!" General Plo questioned sternly.

"We missed one." Help said with a sigh of defeat as they all turned to face the ship's medical droid that had just entered the room.

"Is there a problem Sir?" The droid asked innocently.

"We forgot about the medical droid." Commander Tano said exasperated, baffled as he was by their collective stupid.

"How did we not think about the Doc?" He questioned slightly ashamed off himself.

As one, the 3 Jedi spun back around and began rebooting system's and restarting the engine's. While they were doing that, he reactivated the R2 unit and rebooted his armour's system's, sliding his now illuminated helmet back on.

"We have got to get the power back on, now!" Skywalker ordered urgently, finally getting the engine's restarted and began to spin the ship around.

"Can I be of assistance?" The Med droid asked, still blissfully unaware of the trouble it had unknowingly caused.

"No thanks', just get in the back and take care of the Clone's." Skywalker replied sharply, too busy to waste time trying to be polite.

"That is my programming Sir." The droid said, not even acknowledging the tense mood as he walked back towards the cargo hold.

The General was piloting the ship skilfully, ducking and diving around debris as they tried to flee from the massive cruiser that was now targeting them. While they were focused on escaping, Help checked the rear view camera from a monitor and saw the dish on the side of the super cruiser beginning to light up.

"Their charging the ion cannon!" He reported, having to shout over the screaming sound of the engine.

"Not good!" Commander Tano yelled back.

"R2, prep the hyperdrive and plot a course, we need to get out of here!" Skywalker ordered, still focusing on not flying into debris.

The little astromech rushed to obey and Help continued to watch the super weapon at work. It soon stopped getting brighter and he knew what that meant.

"The cannon's finished charging!" He yelled again.

_'Must be broad side, can only fire line of sight, 30 second charge cycle before ready.'_ He mentally listed for his report later.

Not a second later, the cannon fired and a wide, circular disk of purple electricity raced after them, very quickly starting to catch up. 

_'Can't be out run, avoid weapon's path at all cost.'_ He continued to list.

The ion storm continued to chase them, snapping at their heel's. The blast was going to catch them eventually, it was moving faster than the Twilight ever could, but a split second before the storm could strike them, the hyperdrive engaged and they made the jump to hyperspace, leaving the super cruiser and it's deadly ion weaponry behind them. 

Around him the Jedi sagged and collapsed with relief now that they no longer had a ship killer targeting them, the Clone's in the hold continued to rest and recuperate as best they could until they reached the fleet, and the R2 unit gave a little whoop of joy as well.

"Well." Help said nonchalantly. "Never a dull day in the Grand army of the Republic eh?".

He couldn't stop the small happy smile that spread across his face as the Jedi let out tired laugh's in reply.

_'Never a dull day indeed.'_ He thought again.


End file.
